More Garden Destruction; The Culprit?

More and more of my beloved veggies have disappeared! The beans, sweet potatoes and cucumbers have lost ALL of their leaves. Tomatoes and zucchinis have been munched, along with all of the watermelons and cantaloupe. The only thing that hasn't been eaten is the squash from my last post!

I correctly blamed the melon destruction on the raccoons, but now I know that THIS is who ate the rest!

In this picture, he is eating clover but I can safely say that a groundhog's favorite food is anything from the vegetable garden! From the looks of the one we saw in our garden, they can get pretty fat on veggies!

This weekend we were making more salsa and needed a few more tomatoes to finish the batch. So my daughter and I walked up to the garden to pick some where we saw the fattest groundhog of all time finishing off the last of the bean leaves.

"Hey! What are you doing? Get out of here!" I yelled at him. He seemed to understand me perfectly and ran as fast as his little legs could take his big fat body in to the woods.

I don't usually talk to (or yell at) animals like this. Groundhogs are easy to talk to I guess. Now I understand the post that Kenny from Veggie Gardening Tips wrote about his groundhog. It is titled Conversations with a Woodchuck, and is one of the funniest bit of writing I've seen in a while.

Kenny caught his culprit. I hope I can do the same!

Comments

[August 22, 2007 at 02:34 AM]

Haha! This picture reminds me of Caddy Shack and Groundhog day all at once. Good luck with the fatty groundhogs! I hope they leave you some tomatoes!

[Michelle]

What a cheeky woodchuck! Glad you got a picture of the culprit! You also might want to look into Tim Badore's animal conspiracy theory.

[August 22, 2007 at 04:28 AM]

I don't want to jinx myself, but my resident woodchuck leaves the garden alone. He/She hangs out under my shed, but seems to forage elsewhere.

I don't blame you for wanting to be rid of yours, if mine started snaking in the garden it'd be in a live trap and off for a long car ride pretty quickly.

[August 22, 2007 at 06:08 PM]

You have my sincerest condolences for your lost vegetables.

I throw large rocks at my local woodchuck. They hit him dead on but he just looks at me and laughs. I suggest you invest in a good fence.

[Anonymous]

I there a narual why to keep these animals out. A certain plant, composte. I dont know but there must be something they found repulsive

[August 25, 2007 at 02:22 AM]

I read a book a while back where a gardener recounted his woodchuck wars. He got to the point of desperation that he poured gasoline down the hole and lit it on fire. It was so very funny that I cried.

I really wish I could remember where I read that because it was the funniest piece of garden writing I've ever encountered.

If anyone knows, please email me!!!!

--Robin (Bumblebee)

[September 14, 2007 at 05:32 AM]

Groundhogs, I shiver.

BTW: I miss the veggie site!

[October 14, 2007 at 07:34 PM]

i really like your blog (you are bookmarked)! and what an expression on the little guy.....