Discouraging groundhogs and ground squirrels
Created on 3/3/2010
The groundhog saw his shadow a month ago, but in these parts the herald of spring are the ground squirrels. I was taken aback when I saw several of them scurrying across the hard-packed snow in the field behind us. And even though they can be a problem in the garden, I know it’s a sure sign winter is short lived!
Last week, my boys and I found a very fresh ground squirrel hole near the fence at the back of the property. There are fresh tracks in the mud outside of it so I know they’re using it regularly. Right now it’s far enough away from the gardens to be safe, but ground squirrels and other munching rodents can be a big problem.
For us, Melvin the Wonderdog, our heeler/ Aussie mix will undoubtedly put the run on any ground squirrels that make their way too far into the yard, but for people without a faithful hound, a gopher, ground squirrel or groundhog can do a great deal of damage.
A good way to keep them at bay is to build raised beds. When I built 220 raised beds out of stone at my place, Shady Side Herb Farm, near West Glacier, Montana we had ground squirrels running all over the place. They never bothered anything.
Dealing with gophers or ground squirrels around traditional tilled gardens is more of a challenge because their burrow entrances can be scattered over a considerable amount of ground. From my experience, deterrents such as cayenne and other strong smelling products don’t do much. Unless you’re going to remove the animals, you need to absolutely cover everything using floating row covers. Even then, persistent individuals may slip underneath them.
My sister back in Ohio has a groundhog (also called a woodchuck) problem. It’s important to be proactive with them because they’ll eat everything, not just nibble on a tomato or two. She’s building raised beds to help keep them out of her beans and other veggies. If this doesn’t keep them totally out of the garden, it will be easy to stretch chicken wire or even a floating row cover over the garden to provide protection. At the worst case, she can run a strand of chicken wire at the top of the bed along the perimeter to further discourage them.
This technique can also work for skunks, although they are far more persistent, and since they typically invade the garden at night are harder to identify. If we had a skunk problem, I would automatically put a covering of chicken wire or the floating row cover (they don’t seem to like the flapping of the fabric), and set up a quick strand of electric just to be safe. Even though they’re great at eating grubs, with the possibility of rabies, I prefer to keep skunks far away from the house and garden.
