The woodchucks tricked me this year.

[catjac1975]

I was feeling confident that our fence repair from a few seasons ago have been keeping out the woodchucks. Then I saw many missing sweet potato leaves yesterday. They are ready to harvest so I did not panic, annd fixed a hole under the fence that they had made. I was drooling with anticipation at having edamame for dinner last night. I went to the back of the garden where my bountiful crop was located....not one left. I am so mad.

 

[Collector]

That sucks those little suckers are sneaky. I had a marmot this year for the first time, he won’t be back though.

 

[digitS']

I'm sorry about the edamame, Kat'.

I once had a plot at a community garden on park department land. We were not allowed to even harass the wildlife but could build fences.

The popular technic for the chicken wire was to bury part of it and leave about the top 8" loose. I once saw a marmot trying to climb. He arrived at the loose part and just stopped as it bent back towards him.

Didn't matter 100%. By late in the season, marmots had raided every garden every year, at least once. Mine, they would discover a place to dig under. One season, I had pole beans close to the fence. You could see where a critter had reached through the wire and the scratches on the ground as he tried really hard to reach those beans!

Currently, I have seen at least one marmot in the unfenced big garden every season I've been there. Tracking back to the burrows and driving rocks into the holes hasn't worked as it has with ground squirrels. At least, they haven't been a terrible problem most years.

Beans? The rabbits like bean plants, too!

Steve

 

[Carol Dee]

Grrr woodchucks. Several years ago we waged WAR on them. Since that we have had a dog that hates them too. They never have time to set up housekeeping before the dog runs 'em off or does them in! Husband tells everyone I cheer when I see a dead one on the road. Sorry, but not sorry, yes I do!

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

I don't even know what a wood chuck looks like. I only know the rhyme.

 

[Carol Dee]

I don't even know what a wood chuck looks like. I only know the rhyme.

Same as a groundhog!

 

[Carol Dee]

I don't even know what a wood chuck looks like. I only know the rhyme.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=woodchuck+pictures&qpvt=woodchuck+pictures&FORM=IGRE
Same as a groundhog

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

OH!!! I learn something new every day! Thanks.

Can you eat them? Maybe too fatty...

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

why yes you can! Found this on Epicurious!

Yes, watch out, Punxsutawney Phil, apparently you and your kind are pretty tasty as well as darn cute and cuddly. No wonder you have that security detail with you at all times.

"The simple fact is, groundhogs are eminently edible and delicious," writes Everett J. Castro in Mother Earth News. "Like rabbits and squirrels (both of which are valued food animals), whistle-pigs are vegetarians. Thus, their meat, when properly prepared, is quite tasty and tender."

Castro gives recipes for his traditional Groundhog Day pie and also a hearty stew. "You can use woodchuck meat in virtually any recipe calling for small game and in many other dishes as well," he says

 

[Cosmo spring garden]

I feel your pain! I had a bunny eating my plants in my fenced in yard. I put our dog in the garden and after three nights there was a dead bunny by the gate. I dont mind sharing but this bunny (maybe more than one) was eating all my seedlings!