UPDATE: Argh!!! Children!!!

I have 5 kids and love to garden. But if kids start messing in the garden too much they had better be working. This keeps them pretty far away. :hide
 
Yeah, I learned at a very early age not to ask, "What can I do?" Shelled and strung/broke beans/peas till my fingers were raw (doesn't help that everything from the garden breaks me out). Still hate "As the World Turns" because that's what we watched while doing beans. Every time I'd finish a batch, here came Mama with two more five gal. buckets.Found that I could get the hoeing done twice as fast if I waited till I was really mad at my mother. I think she still judges a person's worth by how big a garden they grow. No garden equals downright sorryness to her. Still helps my bro. fulltime with his commercial fruit orchard at 82. Most adults I know that HAD to garden a lot as a child won't go near a garden as an adult. But, I try to tell them, it's, to me anyhow, a whole different ballgame when it's your garden. YOU get to decide what, where, when,how, and how much. Hmm...new thread topic? The way I was raised, gardens were sacred ground. A kid wouldn't dare go into another person's without permission, and if you did get permission, you'd be afraid of damaging something. Doing it on purpose...If that kid was made to replant and grow what he/she damaged, they wouldn't go near you garden again. Course, they should grow it at their house and bring the produce to you.
 
:yuckyuck

That was a great idea for a thread, elf, btw!

Yes, obviously these lil' punks have never been around a garden before. I think it would do a load of good for most kids nowadays to get a little experience with what goes into nurturing something to live and grow. No respect, that's the problem... :/
 
I have kids but I don't think I would be offended at ranting about kids destroying your garden. No children should be playing on property that isn't their family's without permission. If I found out my kids had ruined part of my garden, let alone someone else's, I would be furious with them! Sorry to hear about your garden!
 
Those bloody little despoilers came into my garden AGAIN (climbed over the fence) and managed to SQUISH one of my prize heirloom, shipped-from-California, totally-organically-grown, spent-6-weeks-inside, babied-with-lots-of love EXPENSIVE (did I mention expensive!?) Anaheim Chili plants.

So far, the only one to show flowers, and since I've had two episodes of blossom drop previous to this and these flowers seem to be sticking around this time . . .

ARGH!!!! And other words not fit for children's ears!!!!!

Those horrible little disrespectful, boundary-less, clueless, shameless, demon spawn (of adults who have to take off their shoes to count to twenty, who couldn't find their own country on a map of the world, who can't even spell the word 'it's' . . . ).

What do I have to DO to keep the !(#*&#$*()!*&#^@)_#@&#!!!!!! children AWAY from my plants!??????

*scream* . . . *scream* (because the first one offered no relief).

I found my poor plant lying flat. They didn't break the stem, thank GOD, but it was lying flat like it had been kicked over from where it went into the ground.

I immediately went to Home Depot (well, immediately . . . after teaching the chickens to go up their ramp) and got a stake and set the poor Anaheim chili upright and staked it firmly. It's still green, a bit wilty, but alive. The stem felt good, nice and firm, but still.

If it doesn't make it I am going to kick up such a holler you will probably ALL be able to hear me, no matter where you live. And I'm going to tell their parents exactly what I think about little undisciplined beasts who trample people's supply of FOOD for the better part of a year merely because their selfish, ignorant flatlander parents didn't give a da . . . er, decided not to teach their children about personal respect and boundaries and so on.

All this happened in the three hours we left our backyard unguarded, when we left the house to go to my MIL's birthday dinner. When we came back, BAM, flat plant.

I am SO UPSET RIGHT NOW.



Whitewater
 
On another forum, about 2 years ago, I complained about dogs.

There is a Samoyed across the road from me that must live a terrible life. She used to bark all the time, non-stop.

A guy moved in behind me, 2 years ago with what I thought was a beagle. It doesn't bark non-stop, it bays!

Then, I got new neighbors next door to the east. They moved in with a Samoyed and promptly got a beagle puppy!! Next door to the east, those people got a mastiff/pitbull puppy at about the same time!!!

When the mastiff/pitbull grew up enuf to jump over my fence - I just had to do some venting. I had people sign into that forum for the first time just to tell me how wonderful a mastiff/pitbull can be!! I couldn't argue with them - but keep it out of my yard!!

I said nothing to my neighbors beyond commiserating with a guy who works swing shift and owns a quiet dog.

Things change, Whitewater. I know it isn't of much help at the moment and kids who climb over the fence now, may be stealing your car 10 years from now. Dogs . . . don't usually last so long.

The Samoyed across the road is getting so old that she barks very little now. The people with the Samoyed & beagle next door, moved away. The people with the mastiff/pitbull decided that it was too much to try to control. They gave it away and then told me the sad story that the new owners couldn't control it either and took it out and shot it!!

The beagle that bays continuously, turned out to be a coonhound - when I finally caught sight of it from the roof of my garage. Its backyard looks like a hell-hole.

The swing-shift neighbor circulated some copies of a complaint - I signed one. That dog was IMMEDIATELY silenced by a bark collar!!

I guess what I learned was that sticking it out sometimes works. Careless people often don't stick around long. And, working with neighbors who you can work with - works, too.

Steve
 
How old are the little b...uh, darlings? Have you ever been able to catch them out there? Have you ever spoken to them or their parents? Sometimes making them think you're good and crazy helps. Are you in a location where you can scream like a banshee without getting locked away? Scream obscenities?(not if you have other close neighbors, though) Although cops with sirens will add to the effect. Do you have guns that you can target practice with? Lots of gunshots do help,esp. combined with the screaming. All this may just make them think you're one of them, but at least they won't think you're going to necessarily cower under to their whims. If you can, catch them while you carry a gun, and tell them you're afraid to be without it because you've been seeing a 5 ft. rattler. Also, this way you won't be accused of threatening the angels. You could combine this with a fake snake that you move every day. If you can get your hands on a big blacksnake, release it in your garden. You could try the same approach as with repelling wildlife - spray the fence with something stinky and sticky. Hanging those stinky fly traps near their crossing might help. If you come across any dead animals leave those by the fence, too. I had an animal repellent water sprinkler device called the "scarecrow" that's made to spray whatever crosses it's path. Then again, that might make a game of running through it. Good luck! Unruly children are the hardest pest to deal with, except maybe their parents.
 
It sounds as though you need to get their attention. Filing a suit in small claims court may do that. Take as many pictures of the damage as possible, including shots of footprints if you can get some. Better yet would be pics of the kids in your yard.
 
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