Kids using garden as shortcut what can i plant?

izzwizz_2

Gooseberry bushes

cootambear

stinging nettles

dogstarheaven

stinging nettles - ooh that idea is a bit too much, but vv effective. you'll have to dig a patch wearing strong thick gloves and i think their roots are are of the long tapering variety, which means you can propagate this by chopping 2 inch roots and let them root in the soil (or to grow in pots first). this you must know will only be a temporary solution as nettles die back when the frosts come (oct/nov time). nettles are great for wildlife if you let them flower.. the leaves are great for soups and stews.. as an alt. to spinach

Joly_Roger

Hi XmasLolly76, great that you're being patient with them. I have a similar situation myself, where children come in to my garden (when playing hide and seek) and accidentally squash the plants, very annoying! I had to put bamboo canes around the plants and that has helped a lot.

I think it would be a shame to plant out of malice, the kids have perhaps taken advantage of disused ground.

I would recommend you get some picket fencing to define your boundaries and then plant what you like, with aesthetics being your only consideration. You could always protect the new plants with 1 foot bamboo canes protruding out of the ground. Lavender is a wonderful dwarf hedge, fragrant and good for our bees too. You can buy small sized multi packs that equate to around £1 a plant from B&Q.

in_the_Cotswolds

Water sprinkler. Watch and wait for them to walk on the grass and then turn it on.

Should be some fun especially if they're on the way to school.

mrbadexample

I'd dig an elephant trap. Nice deep hole, big sharp wooden stakes in the bottom. Cover the hole with ferns or bracken to disguise it...

Oh, ok. The pyracantha would get my vote if I'm not allowed elephant traps.

freezspirit

Sorry if this is just too cruel but plant a quince, that has stopped the kids here sitting on my wall as it has spikes on the branches or Leycesteria formosa (Himalaya Nutmeg) that will stain the kids clothes.

invisiblecabbage

how about a couple of triffids:rotfl::rotfl:

cootambear

poison ivy

katholicos

For years I had problems like this with local kids, the only thing that has made any difference is to erect a visible border to my garden. I would give some thought to erecting a fence of some sort, it doesn't have to be expensive. You can even do it with a few posts and some string....then grow some kind of evergreen creeper (clematis?) up the string to disguise it and you have a 'living wall' that the kids won't be able to walk through. I must say that i think you have been extremely tolerant and i really don't think it teaches these kids to respect other peoples property if something isn't done about it. It's all very well for some people to think these 'little darlings' should have free reign, but it does them no good to grow up thinking they can do what they like, when they like. I am a mother of two teens and i've raised them to be respectful of others and their belongings, but they would get a clip around the ear if it was bought to my attention that they had been disrespectful in this way (and i'm a mum to an 18 year old and a nearly 15 year old LOL!)