I see my unsecured garden as my biggest threat because it would be pretty hard to protect my potatoes in the ground.....heck I have enough trouble with the racoons and deer! I'd just have to hope that the neighbours were already 'bugged-out' back to the city by the time my crops were ready in the fall....or it was already winter.

I've been pondering the garden/food source situation too and one thing I have thought of, is to plant a few veggies here and there- in secluded, or even public places, a meadow, or a park. I have found wild asparagus that has gone to seed, not many people think of seeing veggies in a park. Hopefully they'll walk right past it. I'm going to try it with a few plants this summer. One of the things to research prior to is companion planting.

You could surround your property with raspberry canes, wild roses, hawthorn trees and the like to control access for pure security reasons. But please folks, there won't be a need to have an armed camp around your garden.
Guerrilla gardening is about planting things everywhere. Do some searching.

I had to google the guerialla gardening. Lol

Great idea, I'll plant my gooseberries on the outside. That should stop most people.

Plantings like that don't attract attention like a fence does, they feed you and act as a natural security barrier, wildlife refuge. If you've ever wrapped your hand around a wild rose stalk it's not something you forget easily and they produce very nice rose hips.

If you focus alot on planting native/wild edibles, berries, fruits - well - you're garden is disguised. If you plant your veggies in a chaotic, diverse, and spread out way, (no straight lines) and don't weed them, same thing - disguised garden. Then make sure you know which "weeds" are edible (alot of them), another food source!

I like the living thorny fence idea too.

Just realized I posted while ignoring the original topic.

I have thought alot about how to have as secure house. I like the idea of sand/earthbags, either putting them in- or out-side of an existent structure, to create defense point, safe rooms, etc.
Or, if you need to be building a new structure, look into earthbag construction. And/or, look into earthships.

If you have the land, and drainage a good underground shelter can be made with a overseas shipping container. These containers are 8 ft/10 ft high 8' wide and comes in lengths of 10, 20 and 40'. Buried under 3' of settled earth, these container would satisfy most survival requirements as most of them are water proof. Sprayed waterproofing on the out side before lowering will triple the life, accompanied with sprayed insulation will help keep it comfortable. With a few hidden vents, nobody but your most confided friends will know that it even exists. They sell for $2500+ depending on the size, shipping about $200-500 depend on the distance, or if your Claustrophobic it could make a good cabin made of corrugated 1/8 steel. 💡

If you have the land, and drainage a good underground shelter can be made with a overseas shipping container. These containers are 8 ft/10 ft high 8' wide and comes in lengths of 10, 20 and 40'. Buried under 3' of settled earth, these container would satisfy most survival requirements as most of them are water proof. Sprayed waterproofing on the out side before lowering will triple the life, accompanied with sprayed insulation will help keep it comfortable. With a few hidden vents, nobody but your most confided friends will know that it even exists. They sell for $2500+ depending on the size, shipping about $200-500 depend on the distance, or if your Claustrophobic it could make a good cabin made of corrugated 1/8 steel. 💡

i actually though about this as well...but welding it shut and water tight some vents out of the top and an entrance out of the top with a ladder running though it, couple underground all joined by metal tunnels (the big metal culverts you could actual stand up in and walk around.... generator, gas/ diesel supply.... vented out as well.....the vents would travel horizontally for 100 feet or so away from the hide itself....it could work...thing is it would relativly warm in winter and cool in summer

One thing that a lot of people don't seem to think about, is their windows. Planting some type of thorn bushes below your windows helps discourage predators. A mesh, like chicken wire, will prevent objects from being thrown through windows. If you really want to harden your house, you might consider heavy steel shutters with shooting slots. One the the ways people will get hurt, is from flying glass. A plastic film can be added to the inside of the glass. You can either install the film yourself or have a professional do it. This way, if you have to defend yourself from predatory survivors after TSHTF, you have one less weak spot.

Look at old cities everywhere, especially overseas. All the first floor windows have bars on the outside. Big curving ones so the windows will open. You never see them here now but I'll bet you will in the future.

Do the plastic sheet on the glass but you can pretty much forget the Patriots steel shutters. They would have to be ridiculously heavy to do any good.

Great ideas everyone. My weakest spot atm is a large picture window in the front of the house. I need to get it replaced. I was thinking of adding inside wooden shutters at the time. That way it would seem like just "regular" redecorating. When I bought the house all of the basement windows had been replaced with steel plate.

Any thoughts on how to re-enforce a door? I have seen (in movies) where a bar is braced from the floor to the door.

locks keep honest people out. . . that's all.

but having many difference layers of security will help. i didn't come up with this idea, but i use it.

you don't want too many "things" bushes, trees etc blocking your view to provide barriers, because they are something to hide behind. you are giving someone a nice approach to your house with a lot of little hiding places. i have a lot of trees around my place, in some areas they are so thick i can't get thru them, but i can't see what's on the other side either.

i have motion sensors at the end of my lane, the one their puts out 2 long beeps when someone crosses it. we don't get ANY false alarms so if it beeps i go look. the dogs know 2 beeps means someone is there. mail delivery, trash pick up does set these off. if the mail lady is coming to the door she passes it, if the neighbours dog comes over he sets it off. you can't walk around this one really, you can't see it. there is a fence that funnels you thru the gate. (and in good times i'm not expecting people to walk at my place thru the woods 🙂

i have similar sensors by the barn, and the back path to my property coming from the neighbours hunt camp.
i also have 5 dogs, four are run free over the property (they don't leave it) and they do pretty good at finding things not meant to be there.

if you get passed all that, and come near the house, from any direction you're going to be seen on 3 cameras, unless you come the back way, then it's only 2, lol.

i have sensors that can be placed off the property to tell me if anyone is coming up the road.
i have a 600 foot view across the pond and thru the tree line i can tell if someone is driving down that road.
the other direction is closed in the winter, but i can't see that way very well (too many trees!!!!)

i have an alarm system inside, if you enter when it's armed, you'll hear a number of loud sirens that will let the OPP down the road know someone is wrong (they are LOUD) the system is not wired to a company but calls my cell phone.

if i'm home well, then you're really in trouble, two people trained in martial arts, that have a choice of two 45 rugers, (in a SAFE not a cabinet) or a sword, or pepper spray in the bedroom, the other room holds the 9mm, shotguns and rifles in a SAFE, (i hope everyone has taken extra precautions securing your firearms, i don't want to be shoot by a stolen gun)

of course we have the phone to dial 911 in the room first, but i take my dog's security seriously, i LOVE my dogs 😀

door and windows are weak points right, my front windows are the only ones you can get into, the rest of barred (bought the house that way) then there are two doors on the front. both have strong deadbolts on them. they are go thru thick steel plate into the frame. the main door as slap locks on them, once closed you can't open the door from that side, you'd have to break it down the middle. these act like hinges (sorta) on the other side. of course the hinges have 3.5 inch screws going right into the frame. the other door is harder to work with, but i'm looking at a outside security gate for it that looks fancy and pretty, not like it's locking up that entrance.

my place isn't impossible to break into, but it's very hard. it's also very hard to get near it without telling me you're there.

my garden had 0 animals last year. i had just a simple 3 foot high fence. i didn't think this was going to be enough, so i bought, but never got it up, a solar charged electric fence.

too keep deer out make two fences close enough they can't jump between, but too far to jump both of them. there are some good videos on youtube about this.

as for two legged garden thieves, motion sensor will alert you there are there. there is an answer to just about every problem without having to go under ground. . .

but underground is a damn fine idea too 😀

I got to get me one of those motion detector alarms. Could you recommend a brand?

Good to the "slap locks" work. I put them on all my doors last year and wondered if they were really any good