QA

Question: How To Keep A Groundhog Out Of Your Garden

Lavender – Try planting some lavender around the garden. While it smells lovely to us, groundhogs find it offensive and avoid the areas where it is. They also dislike the smell of these herbs: basil, chives, lemon balm, mint, sage, thyme, rosemary, and oregano.

What smells do groundhogs hate?

3. Plants as deterrents. Plants with strong fragrances, such as lavender, will keep groundhogs out of your garden. The Farmers’ Almanac says groundhogs also dislike the smell of these herbs: mint, sage, basil, lemon balm, rosemary, thyme, chives and oregano.

What will keep a groundhog away?

Groundhogs hate the smell of garlic and pepper. To deter them from ever returning to your garden, crush some garlic and pepper and throw it into their burrows. You can also make a garlic and pepper spray to spray your vegetables. Woodchucks will not touch a single thing that smells pungent or spicy.

Do coffee grounds repel groundhogs?

Maybe the coffee smell will be a deterrent. It’s a great soil amendent, in any case. Woodchucks seem to have very distinct foraging preferences — curcurbits, tomatillos, kale, and beans are greatly preferred.

Will vinegar keep groundhogs away?

Mix ammonia with washing detergent, vinegar, hot pepper and soap and pour the mixture down each hole. This may have to be repeated for a few days until the groundhogs go away. Apply ammonium mixture around the fence to prevent groundhogs from coming in. This may have to be repeated if it gets washed off.

Do marigolds deter groundhogs?

Groundhogs do not like noxious smells. They particularilly do not like certain flowers like marigolds, snapdragons, dianthus, ageratum, nicotiana, sweet alyssum, and annual poppies. The bonus is that you will have beautiful flowers to view and plants that are unappealing to groundhogs.

Will Epsom salt keep groundhogs away?

Epsom Salt- One way to deter groundhogs from eating your plants is to sprinkle Epsom salt on the soil. Groundhogs do not enjoy the taste of Epsom salt, and they will be discouraged from eating the plants.

How do I keep groundhogs from digging under my fence?

The best way to prevent a groundhog from burrowing under a structure on your property is to exclude it with a steel mesh fence. It should go all the way around the perimeter of the shed or deck and go at least 18 inches underground. The bottom should curve outward to prevent a groundhog from digging underneath it.

Does Irish Spring keep groundhogs away?

Irish Spring is an effective repellent against groundhogs. A bar of soap should be hung from a post or fence to scare off groundhogs and prevent them from digging up the lawn or eating the plants.

How do I stop a groundhog from digging?

Sprinkle a granular repellent to create a repelling barrier to drive/keep groundhogs out of problem areas. Spray a liquid repellent onto surfaces like plants, wood, grass or mulch to discourage gnawing, eating and digging.

Do groundhogs eat tomatoes?

Woodchucks (also called groundhogs) are vegetarians, feeding on grasses, weeds, clover, and also on ornamental plants and garden crops like cabbage, lettuce, beans, carrots…and tomatoes.

What time are groundhogs most active?

Activity: Groundhogs are diurnal (active during the day) from spring to fall. Most activity occurs during the early morning and early evening hours, at which groundhogs emerge from their burrows to gather food.

Do groundhogs eat hostas?

Groundhogs can devastate a garden very quickly. In your garden, they eat freshly planted annuals and returning perennials, hostas, and just about every leafy herb and vegetable in the veggie patch.5 days ago.

Will groundhogs eat rat poison?

Be sure to keep this bait out of reach from children and pets. Rat poison works for groundhogs and it is legal depending on state law.

Will human urine deter woodchucks?

Repellent products, such as mothball or urine granules or powders, have no demonstrated effectiveness in keeping groundhogs away. However, an aggressive dog might work. You can fill in any open burrows, but if there is an animal present, it will re-open them again. Better to fill them after the animal(s) are gone.

Do groundhogs eat garden plants?

Groundhogs can cause real problems for home vegetable and flower gardeners. They eat almost any plant material and are especially fond of tomatoes. Annuals fill the garden with flowers and fragrance from early spring until fall’s first frost.

Do groundhogs eat pepper plants?

Food They Won’t Eat Presumably the nightshade family is as toxic to groundhogs as to humans, and they know it. You can safely grow potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Rodents also avoid Mediterranean herbs in the mint family such as rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, basil and lemon balm.

Do groundhogs eat daylilies?

You may also choose to grow plants that woodchucks seldom eat. These plants include columbine (Aquilegia), daylily (Hemerocallis), blanket flower (Gaillardia x grandiflora), cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), and marigold (Tagetes).

How do I keep rabbits and groundhogs out of my garden?

Mesh fencing can be cut to size and stapled or tied to fence posts. An electric fences is the ultimate solution — especially for woodchucks, rabbits and deer.

What are groundhogs good for?

Soil Aeration When digging, groundhogs help aerate soil. Roots, like all other parts of the plant, have to respire, taking in oxygen and emitting carbon dioxide. In unturned soil, roots deplete their limited oxygen while CO2accumulates, making it hard for them to ‘breathe.

How do I keep squirrels and rabbits out of my garden?

Putting fencing around your garden is one of the most effective ways to keep squirrels and bunnies from wrecking your space. The most common technique is to make a fence using chicken wire or hardware cloth to surround your garden.