OK, I take it back. Groundhogs aren't cute. Especially little baby groundhogs. Little baby groundhogs who are small enough to squeeze through the gaps in the garden fence. Grrr. I guess I know what happened to my seedlings.
Brian actually had his hands on the little bugger, but he let it go. Next time he's going to try to pop it in a bucket so we can haul it down to the park, where it can munch on grass to its furry little heart's content and leave our tomato plants alone.
I'm gonna get that wascawwy gwoundhog.
Amy, your Dad says groundhogs have sharp teeth, so I hope next time either of you catches the little guy that you're wearing very heavy gloves.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Brian had his work gloves on, but the teeth still looked intimidating. I guess we can just wait for him to grow a little bigger and then he won't fit through the fence anymore.
ReplyDeleteUm, by "him" I mean the groundhog, not Brian.
ReplyDeleteThere's probably a predator urine they don't like. Maybe fox? You can buy concentrate or powders. The concentrate goes in a little diffuser bottle you can hang from a fence. It will survive a rain, but will eventually evaporate. You won't be able to smell it unless you spill some on you when filling the hanger bottle. The powder is granules that go down around the perimeter. They'll wash away in the rain.
ReplyDeleteAnother alternative is dried blood. Deer don't like dried rabbit's blood, so maybe groundhogs don't like some kind of blood, either.
Used cat litter is supposed to work. We put some down the groundhog hole last year and scared him off for a while. The thing is, I'd be happy to let them stay here as long as they can't get into the garden. Maybe I'll wait a bit and see how long it takes the little one to get too big to squeeze in there.
ReplyDeleteWhile taking a load of stuff over to our new place the other day I also discovered a groundhog. Cousins? I don't know yet if he's a resident or just a visitor though. There should be plenty of space for him either way, although if he asks me, I would suggest he remain up the hill.
ReplyDeleteWe've been having our own experiments with fox urine (concentrated liquid, since we needed it to stay on a surface) and with repellent made with blood, egg putrescence, garlic oil, wintergreen oil, and a few other things. Both available (as is the diffuser) at the nearest feed-and-seed store. Maybe repellent on the garden fence?
ReplyDeleteWow, that sounds pretty gross. We'll try a repellant if we have to, but at this point I think the little furballs (it turns out there are two babies, not just one) may actually have grown too big to fit through the fence anymore. So now I just have to replant my cucumbers.
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