We have a 6ft high hedge at the front of our house that the local
schoolkids and others seem to delight in throwing themselves and others
into, resulting in great holes in the thing. It's beginning to look
thoroughly miserable.

I've emailed the local headmaster but not yet had a response. No doubt
he'll be sympathetic but not sure he'll be able to do much to help. I'm
also slightly reluctant to become the bloke who grassed them up. I
don't want to become a target of something worse.

It looks like the best thing I can do is to spoil their fun in some
other way. Obviously I could plant something tougher and pricklier but
this will take too long. It's tempting to wrap barbed wire round it but
no doubt I'd end up getting sued.

Looks like the best thing might be some sturdy posts and a horizontal
railing or two to deter them, though logistically that won't be that
easy as the hedge juts out a bit.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

Will

wrote in message
ups.com...
We have a 6ft high hedge at the front of our house that the local
schoolkids and others seem to delight in throwing themselves and others
into, resulting in great holes in the thing. It's beginning to look
thoroughly miserable.

I've emailed the local headmaster but not yet had a response. No doubt
he'll be sympathetic but not sure he'll be able to do much to help. I'm
also slightly reluctant to become the bloke who grassed them up. I
don't want to become a target of something worse.

It looks like the best thing I can do is to spoil their fun in some
other way. Obviously I could plant something tougher and pricklier but
this will take too long. It's tempting to wrap barbed wire round it but
no doubt I'd end up getting sued.

Looks like the best thing might be some sturdy posts and a horizontal
railing or two to deter them, though logistically that won't be that
easy as the hedge juts out a bit.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

Will


Barrett M90 or M95 0.5 calibre sniper rifles are nice..............you don't
have to be close, just pick a high point 1800 metres away, that's their
effective range...........don't miss otherwise that bush of yours will be
long gone...........

http://world.guns.ru/sniper/sn03-e.htm

Are you worried about how tidy the front of teh hedge looks? If not then you
could grow stinging nettles along teh bottom. Alternatively borrow a big dog
for a few weeks

--
Hayley
(gardening on well drained, alkaline clay in Somerset)

On 8 May 2006 13:05:59 -0700, wrote:

We have a 6ft high hedge at the front of our house that the local
schoolkids and others seem to delight in throwing themselves and others
into, resulting in great holes in the thing. It's beginning to look
thoroughly miserable.

Same problem here - hedge a horrible mess. Can't see a solution - children
rule in this sad country of ours and they know it. Read last week of a 66
year old lady who dared to confront a gang of 14 year olds throwing stones
at her car - she was arrested and spent the night in prison :-(

Whatever action you take, you will be wrong and the children will be
right:-(
--
Regards,

Hugh Jampton

Are you worried about how tidy the front of teh hedge looks? If not then you
could grow stinging nettles along teh bottom. Alternatively borrow a
big dog
for a few weeks

We thought about stinging nettles but I tended to think this might just
increase the pleasure of the kids in pushing each other into the hedge!

wrote in message
ups.com...
We have a 6ft high hedge at the front of our house that the local
schoolkids and others seem to delight in throwing themselves and others
into, resulting in great holes in the thing. It's beginning to look
thoroughly miserable.

I've emailed the local headmaster but not yet had a response. No doubt
he'll be sympathetic but not sure he'll be able to do much to help. I'm
also slightly reluctant to become the bloke who grassed them up. I
don't want to become a target of something worse.

It looks like the best thing I can do is to spoil their fun in some
other way. Obviously I could plant something tougher and pricklier but
this will take too long. It's tempting to wrap barbed wire round it but
no doubt I'd end up getting sued.

Looks like the best thing might be some sturdy posts and a horizontal
railing or two to deter them, though logistically that won't be that
easy as the hedge juts out a bit.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

Will

how about spraying something really foul smelling (but benign) on the hedge.
Any lad going head long in to it will get covered in the smell. I cannot
give you many suggestions as to what it may be put a very strong poop tea
may do it. I brew disgusting liquid fertiliser which smells to buggery. It
will also be good for the tree. Have a look around a hardware maybe or rent
a skunk.

rob

Why are they congregating outside your house?

They're not. They just walk past on their way to school. Thanks for the
other suggestion.

how about spraying something really foul smelling (but benign) on the hedge.
Any lad going head long in to it will get covered in the smell.

Interesting idea though again, I wonder if this would just increase the
tempatation to push your mate into it...? !

wrote in message
ups.com...
We have a 6ft high hedge at the front of our house that the local
schoolkids and others seem to delight in throwing themselves and others
into, resulting in great holes in the thing. It's beginning to look
thoroughly miserable.

I've emailed the local headmaster but not yet had a response. No doubt
he'll be sympathetic but not sure he'll be able to do much to help. I'm
also slightly reluctant to become the bloke who grassed them up. I
don't want to become a target of something worse.

It looks like the best thing I can do is to spoil their fun in some
other way.

Puff a load of talc into the hedge.

They will assume they have been poisoned by antkiller or somesuch and may
also get Hell from their parent when they get home.

--
Brian
"Fight like the Devil, die like a gentleman."

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message .com
from contains these words:

Why are they congregating outside your house?

They're not. They just walk past on their way to school. Thanks for the
other suggestion.

how about spraying something really foul smelling (but benign) on
the hedge.
Any lad going head long in to it will get covered in the smell.

Interesting idea though again, I wonder if this would just increase the
tempatation to push your mate into it...? !

Worth a try. You would then have the stinking mate's mother and
friends on your side, applying a double pronged deterrent of social
rejection and nagging. The ideal stink to apply, would be comfrey tea. A
bucket of comfrey leaves soaked in a barrel of water for two weeks. This
is also a good plant fertiliser, so you have a perfectly rational excuse
to water it over the outside of the hedge . Just be warned, it really is
a disgusting stink. The kids will run past fast but you'lll be living
with it all day.

Fertilise your hedge in the morning, at lunch time and just before
home time, and they'll all be crossing the road to avoid your place.

Janet

I was thinking about maybe a tea brewed up with rancid cat poop. Collect a
decent amount, leave it in a plastic bag for a few days, brew for a week or
2 and then liberally apply to the hedge. Alternately some nicely rotting
road kill is a big bucket of water. Here in NZ we have fly traps which you
bait with a sachet mixed with water. After a day or 2 in the sun the water
mix smells vile. You may be able to get something similar in england.

rob

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message .com
from contains these words:

Why are they congregating outside your house?

They're not. They just walk past on their way to school. Thanks for the
other suggestion.

how about spraying something really foul smelling (but benign) on
the hedge.
Any lad going head long in to it will get covered in the smell.

Interesting idea though again, I wonder if this would just increase the
tempatation to push your mate into it...? !

Worth a try. You would then have the stinking mate's mother and
friends on your side, applying a double pronged deterrent of social
rejection and nagging.

if a lad went to school stinking I doubt his teachers would look on it very
favourably and he may be going home fairly quickly for a bath. Getting home
in school time may not make mum or dad very happy either.

Please, do let us know the results of your trial, what perfume you used and
any complaints you gather as a result.

rob

wrote:

Looks like the best thing might be some sturdy posts and a horizontal
railing or two to deter them, though logistically that won't be that
easy as the hedge juts out a bit.



Ah, so you're one of those houseowners who lets their hedge grow half
way across the pavement? Railings in front of the hedge would work.

Grow some bramble bushes inside the bush your trying to protect, and enjoy the benefits of rasberries/blackberries and protection for your bush. Just keep in under control

if a lad went to school stinking I doubt his teachers would look on it
very
favourably and he may be going home fairly quickly for a bath.

speaking as a teacher that is unlikely - you cannot just send kids home that
easily any more.

--
Hayley
(gardening on well drained, alkaline clay in Somerset)

--
Derby, England.

Don't try to email me using "REPLY" as the email address is NoSpam. Our
email address is "thewoodies2 at ntlworld dot com"



Puff a load of talc into the hedge.

They would not want to arrive home smelling nice either!!

wrote in message
ups.com...
We have a 6ft high hedge at the front of our house that the local
schoolkids and others seem to delight in throwing themselves and others
into, resulting in great holes in the thing. It's beginning to look
thoroughly miserable.

I've emailed the local headmaster but not yet had a response. No doubt
he'll be sympathetic but not sure he'll be able to do much to help. I'm
also slightly reluctant to become the bloke who grassed them up. I
don't want to become a target of something worse.

It looks like the best thing I can do is to spoil their fun in some
other way. Obviously I could plant something tougher and pricklier but
this will take too long. It's tempting to wrap barbed wire round it but
no doubt I'd end up getting sued.

Looks like the best thing might be some sturdy posts and a horizontal
railing or two to deter them, though logistically that won't be that
easy as the hedge juts out a bit.

Any other ideas?

Thanks

Will

I totally sympathise with you.
Round my parts kids use the hedges as football goal nets. It's not much fun
for hedge owners.

I am currently, foolishly I may add, trying to grow a front hedge using box.

Years to grow and it will take just minutes for kids, with a football, to
wreck it.
I must be mad for trying.