(ModernSurvival.org) – Fortifying your home is an essential step on the path to survival. Be it a home invasion, or a horde of zombified survivors looking for food in a SHTF scenario, you want to be sure your home and family are protected. What can you do to ensure a potential prowler thinks twice about targeting your home? Grow some plants!
Front Line of Defense
What makes your home a target for potential intruders? High fences and security cameras are great for home security; however, they are also red flags that announce you have valuable items to protect. An inconspicuous wall of bushes draws less attention and can provide an excellent, thorny deterrent to would-be invaders if you choose the right plants.
A short hedge around your front yard will allow a view of the street but will also make sure enemies cannot hide behind them to advance on your home. Additionally, plants such as blackberry, barberry, raspberry, or rose bushes provide a painful deterrent to trespassers. As an added bonus, rose bushes beautify your home while keeping it secure.
Well-placed hedges can also create tactical choke points, forcing invaders to come through planned openings in the foliage to advance on your home. This gives you an advantage as you will know the most likely spots they will try to come at you.
In a SHTF scenario, you can boobytrap these points to give your unwelcome guests an unpleasant surprise. Should the assailants try to break through the natural barricade, the noise from such a breach will announce their presence, giving you precious time to react appropriately.
The Outback
Protecting your property is a top priority for most survivalists, and as such, many options are available to keep your land secure such as fences. High fences are a great way to keep prowlers out. However, they also provide home invaders concealment when attempting to break in. A well-placed wall of barbed plants may be the added edge you need to keep them out.
Planting trees like the oleaster, commonly known as the Russian olive, next to your fence will make anyone who decides to climb over immediately regret their decision. The tree grows from 10 to 30 feet and is equipped with 1 to 2-inch long terminal thorns. Another option is the hawthorn tree, which also grows thorns to deter prowlers and reaches a height of 25 to 30 feet. Depending on the type of hawthorn you grow, the thorns can range from 1.5 to 4 inches in length. Regardless of which tree you choose, the thorns can cause severe wounds to anyone foolhardy enough to try pushing through them.
Blackberry and raspberry bushes are also great options for home defense as they have thorns and, as a bonus, provide a renewable source of food. Make sure when you purchase these plants that you are getting the thorned variety if you intend to use them for a barricade, as many cultivated plants are thornless.
Another option is the agave plant, which can reach heights of up to eight feet and has painful spines lining the leaves. Like the blackberry and raspberry bushes mentioned above, this plant can also provide a valuable resource in the form of agave nectar, which can be used as a sweetener.
Around the House
For argument’s sake, let’s say a burglar gets past your hedges and trees and decides to enter your home through a window. A well-placed cactus garden or rose bush could be the difference between a successful robbery and a crook who decides your home isn’t worth the effort. Looters are more likely to choose a home they can get in and out of quickly and quietly, with as little risk to themselves as possible.
Cactus is an obvious deterrent when placed in front of a window, as the spines will make sure anyone who ventures too close will have a bad day. Rose bushes are also an attractive option here due to the flowers, but they will also provide an excellent barrier to entry. Any thorny bush is a good option to protect window entries.
Incognito Is the Way to Go
OPSEC (Operations Security) is a general rule of thumb with preppers; you do not want to advertise what you have to others. The tips provided here are an inconspicuous way to help keep your home safe without broadcasting what you are up to to your neighbors or potential aggressors. No one will suspect your new gardening hobby is a carefully constructed plan to turn your home into a castle.
~To Your Survival!
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