Pond & Greenhouse dilemma..

[theonebeachbum]

Hi All

Does anyone have a pond and/or greenhouse? We have both & I'm just not sure what to do about them. I planned to cover the greenhouse glass in safety film but I've read online that it hardly ever sticks properly. Also, pond, its not big enough to put a fence round, has anyone else done anything different??

Thoughts much appreciated!

Tobb x

[sarah707]

You have to be able to show that you can keep children safe in the garden.

Ofsted will probably ask you to completely fence off the greenhouse and pond to keep children right away.

Can you do that and still have a place where they can play outside?

[curlycathy]

What about those grids you can get that go over the top of the pond? I think theyre like laying down fences iyswim. Dont know where you get them from - try google. I know they exist and are designed to withstand impact cos we looked at them when we first moved in here and had 2 huge pools and a 5yr old (altho in the end we just got rid of the ponds cos it was easier!)

And yes - I think fencing off the greenhouse would be the way forward with that.

[Ripeberry]

I've got a pond with a safety grid and on that side of the garden, there are my vegetable patches, waterbutts and a plastic greenhouse.
I just fenced off half the garden so the kids still have the grass to play on, but can see what is going on in the pond and veg plot

[Flisspaps]

I'm just looking at ways to make my greenhouse safe now - what I'm thinking of doing is applying a 4mm polycarbonate layer over the top of the glass, then if anyone were to fall/run into it, they would hit the poly layer rather than glass.

I was advised that what I needed to do was make it lockable, and show that it was safe. The insulating poly layer should do just that - this stuff is made exactly for things like this.

[theonebeachbum]

Hmmm, well I can't really fence the pond off, it's not very big either and is mainly just decorative with a few fish in, my fiance put it in when he bought the house, and I came along after so feel bad asking him to fill it in! I'll have a look at some kind of grid thing - Do they submerge or sit on the top of the pond??

Greenhouse - If I fence it off it will look a bit odd, and I sort of wanted to keep it as a garden which is also suitable for my family at weekends, rather than fences everywhere (we already have half fenced off to keep our chickens in!), I think I'll have to speak to my other half and see what he thinks, it'd be a real shame to have to fence off another piece of garden..

Thanks all..

[hollyberry]

What about putting some lattice over the windows - that would still let the light in and prevent kiddies from smacking into the window glass and getting cut. Put a hasp and padlock on the shed and then it's inaccessible without a key.

As for the pond, the strong grid covering sounds the best plan.

Hope you get it sorted - I've just had to have fences put up and goodness knows what.

[theonebeachbum]

Yes I think I need to investigate other options, I really dont want to have to fence off another part of the garden, as we spend a lot of time in it as a family at weekends all year round. I'm assuming with the greenhouse I only need to do something to the 'walls' rather than the roof too?

Shed is all locked up all the time anyway as I have a 4yr old of my own who would be happy to help himself to my other halves drills etc otherwise!

[lorimac]

I have a large pond in my garden, fencing off wasn't an option for me so I got hubby to cover it with a safety netting , I tried putting on a pic for you to see but it doesn't seem to work (i really am rubbish on comp)I will try later. Its secured to wooden posts sunk underground and is really strong, its pulled tight and sits about 6 inches above the water level, the netting is around 4inch squares and green so blends in quite well.

[Dragonfly]

I have a pond with a small fence around it. my friend is a childminder and she has a grid over hers.Mine is a wild life pond so i couldnt put a grid over it and wouldnt want to,would ruin it, the children stand on foot stalls to look over the fence and watch the frogs and toads dragonlies etc, fence isnt very high but a curved one so higher in places. My friend pond is just for fish so has the grid.

[Dragonfly]

p.s Ofsted loved the pond area

[theonebeachbum]

Oh wow well that is great to know, thank you! I'm looking at getting a grid, but not quite sure if thats going to cost an arm and a leg! I'll have a look into it, thank you for your post! xx

[suzyjane73]

I have fenced off my greenhouse and shed at great expense. But my garden is so big and nice it would be a shame not to use it for the kids to play in. And actually, it's peace of mind knowing they can't hurt themselves on the glass, one less thing to watch out for.