Childproofing my garden!

Hi, I'm hoping you might be able to help me here! My little girl is just getting to the age where she is running around on her own in the garden and I want to make sure it is safe for her. In particular, we have some steps which get very slipperly in the wet that I'm worried about, and also our greenhouse is right next to where she runs around with her friends - I'm terrified one of them will crash into it during their games.

Does anyone have any suggestions or experience here of how I can make the garden child friendly. Or am I just being paranoid?!

 

this around the greenhouse:



will not look good, but will be safe until she is a bit older, then it can be removed and sold on

here is another version:
Swimming Pool Safety Fence: Child Safety Around Pools

for the steps, you can use the similar stuff that is used in factories .... you can buy sheets of this, which is then cut to fit and applied ontop of the steps
Suregrp - Non Slip Stair Treads

you can get cheaper versions in vinyl

 

You beat me to it *dim* - I was just about to suggest stair treads. We got some recently for the opposite problem - proofing the garden for my elderly mother!

I seem to remember my dad having a greenhouse with some sort of safety glass, which is supposed to be pretty difficult to break. I don't have any details but it might be worth looking into.

 

Hmmm ... never thought about safety glass, but now that you mentioned it, in South Africa, in the 1970's, we had a lot of bombs placed in shopping malls ....

on windows, it was compulsary to use a type of clear plastic film that had an adhesive on one side .... this stopped the glass from shattering

it's similar to the tinting plastic stuff some put on their car windows, but it was a clear version

should be pretty cheap?

 

Your not being paranoid. I've been there.
I'm now second time around with a Grandson and it's even worse.

regarding the steps - Wilkinsons did have some Rubber Step mats that holds well and is non-slip. I'm not sure of current stock availability.

The Greenhouse is a different matter.
As long as she doesn't actually run into the glass and is injured, nothing else matters. The glass can be replaced easily, and balls have an uncanny habit of finding the weak spots.
If the fencing suggested is impractical then a few carefully placed pots may help to divert the traffic.

Meanwhile enjoy the innocence of childhood.
It doesn't last and they can be little devils when they become more aware.

 

Also, have a read of this thread.

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/hook-line-sinker/34569-poisonous-plants-summary.html

 

I've dug a pit in my garden for the lad (2 and a half year old).

Well I say pit, its not really. Its just a sunken play area. The lawn slopes down into it and the play area floor is covered in bark chips. There's a low makeshift assault course in it that he and my mate built out of bits of wood and an old tyre.

So as you come out of our house, you first encounter the lawn, then the sunken play area. Beyond that is the bottom of the garden that I'm still sorting, but so far we've found that the lad is so impressed with the expanse of lawn that he can run on, and the sunken play area with his own little flower patch and his obstacle course, he isn't really bothered (yet) about venturing into the off limits section. I.e. he has enough to keep him busy in the safe bits.

I'd say the steps need blocking off (if that's practical), big containers with nice shrubs in would do that as a temporary measure, and then you could move them when your youngster is a bit older. I don't know what to suggest about the greenhouse.

 

A few solid fence railings will do the trick to keep the little ones away

 

Have you thought of a 3 foot picket fence to keep the kids out. If you go directly to a fencing manufacturer you will be able to save half of what you would pay at a local timber merchant.