Garden Security Guide

During the summer, gardens can become a target for criminals who prey on homeowners who leave valuables and furniture in their back gardens. Burglars not only steal items from your garden, but they can also use it to find secluded entrances to your house where they can remain hidden.

Garden burglary is more common than you might think, with over 100,000 reported incidents each year with the hot weather often causing people to leave furniture and valuables out unattended. It’s critical to protect your garden all year round and upgrade your garden security in order to keep your home, valuables, and loved ones safe!

We look at every aspect of your garden security and offer our expert advice on how to keep it safe and sound.

Is My Garden at Risk?

When planning how to protect your garden security, it’s critical to consider the perspective of a burglar, and see if your garden security is at risk. It might be difficult to strike a balance between a secure garden and an appealing landscape, but there are a few ways in which you can ensure both.

Your strategy will likely be determined by the layout of your garden, but you should always prioritise security and take steps to improve any areas of your garden that could provide a thief with easy access. We propose that you think like a burglar and ask yourself questions. These could include:

• Is there an easy way to gain access to the back garden?
• Are there any furniture or expensive goods on display?
• Are fences safe and long-lasting?
• Are there any hiding places not visible?
• Are there any tools in the garden that could assist a thief in breaking in?

Assessing your garden the way a burglar would allow you to notice any weak points or anything that could be make your garden security and home security more vulnerable.

Front Garden Security

A burglar will most likely pass through your front garden first before breaking into your house or back garden. As a result, it’s critical to protect your front garden security just as much as your back garden security. You want your front garden to be open and exposed, with no places for criminals to hide, this includes having trimmed hedges and installing low fencing to ensure they aren’t able to hide and stay unseen.

We advise this so that you are able to see suspicious activity from inside your house as well as a thief being exposed to view from the road.

Installing a burglar alarm and outdoor security camera in your front garden also sends a strong signal to a possible burglar that your home is better prepared and secured, which will most likely deter them.

Do You Have A Secure Garden Gate?

A back gate is the first place a burglar would look when trying to get into your garden, so garden gate security is one of the first steps in securing your garden. It’s critical that you have a gate lock with key along with having anti climb solutions in place. With over 20% of burglars enter through the back door of your home, your garden gate is the first line of defence to prevent more than just a garden burglary.

Garden Gate Materials

Choosing the right type of garden gate material can make a big difference when it comes to your garden security. For example, choosing a metal garden gate, which is sturdier and more resistant to attack, can be a better choice of garden gate material than a wooden garden gate that is susceptible to warping and rotting.

Garden Gate Locks

While installing a good garden gate is important, you should also ensure that it is securely locked with a visible garden gate lock. A visible garden gate lock will help deter a thief, as they are more likely to break in somewhere with easy access.

Most garden gates are secured with a sliding pad bolt which is then locked into place by a padlock, but mortice deadlocks and rim locks are great for higher garden gate security.

Secure Garden Fence

When installing a garden fence, you need to ensure that the fence itself is also well guarded. Typically, a garden is surrounded by plants, hedges, brick walls, or fencing depending on a person’s aesthetics and trying to balance that with garden security can be difficult.

Garden Fence Materials

Garden fences can be constructed from a variety of materials, with some providing greater benefits than others.

Garden fence panels are often used in back gardens because they are incredibly durable, sustainable, and cost-effective, and they give your garden a natural aesthetic. However, if a burglar wants to break them down, wooden garden fences might be relatively easy to scale or destroy, making them not the best for garden fence security.

Homeowners who want a more modern look for their home are beginning to learn towards metal garden fences made from materials like aluminium and steel. This look is not only visually appealing but also is robust, providing an additional barrier for your garden. The material also makes is a lot harder for a burglar to scale when trying to break in. however, having metal garden fencing can come with a rather large upfront cost.

Strengthening Your Garden Fence

To ensure maximum security and privacy in your garden fences should be at least 2 metres high, ideally with fence spikes. This helps reduce the chance of a burglar climbing it so that they can get into your garden, as once the fence has been climbed, they are more likely to go unnoticed.

We recommend that you embed your garden fence panels in concrete or use galvanised fence panel brackets to solidify your garden fence and reduce the possibility of your fence panel being lifted. This would then mean that the only way a burglar can gain access is to climb the fence, so putting these measures in place helps deter burglars away.

Read our Garden Fence Security Guide for the best tips.

Securing Your Garden Shed

Garden tools and furniture can be expensive, so keeping them safe is important. With over 60 garden shed burglaries occurring each day in the UK, a garden shed with little security can lure burglars. Opportunistic burglars will look for tools in your shed that they can steal as well as then breaking into your home, due to this we advise that you do not give them any opportunities and to ensure your shed is securely locked.

Garden Shed Locks

It’s critical to keep a secure lock on your garden shed door to help prevent break-ins. Steel hasps are commonly used on shed doors because they provide secure locking and can be reinforced with a padlock. Steel is extremely strong and can withstand all weather conditions for an extended period, which makes it an excellent choice for your outdoor shed.

Garden Shed Window Security

Garden shed window security is also important because burglars see garden shed glass as a vulnerable weak point. Adding an additional layer of polycarbonate covering for garden shed security as secondary glazing can significantly increase the strength of the glass and prevent it from smashing. This can also help to reduce condensation on windows.

Find out more about our Garden Shed Security Guide here.

Is Your Garden Furniture and Plants Secure?

You may not think that you need to protect your garden furniture and plants, but having these items in your garden can put your house more at risk to break-ins, due to burglars seeking out these items so that they can resell as they are often valuable. There are numerous precautions you can take to keep them from being stolen.

Install Additional Measures

Several additional measures can be implemented to protect and deter burglars from stealing garden valuables. The best method is to use ground anchors, which are a simple and inexpensive solution that will prevent a thief from picking up an item anchoring the furniture to the ground, making it nearly impossible for a thief to steal it while remaining undetected.