How To Keep Groundhogs Out Of Your Garden

How to keep Groundhogs, Raccoons, Possums and Rabbits out of your Garden


For years my urban garden has provided a free lunch for city varmints. None the less, we have been largely unsympathetic to the woes of our country cousins, whose plots are regularly ravaged by deer, and wither in times of drought. But get me started on ol’ Whistle Pig, you had better stand back.
We have hung reflectors, fired air rifles surreptitiously, and even fenced most of the yard. Like a scene from The Great Escape, the groundhogs seem to be able to fearlessly go over and under standard fencing. Last week I surveyed my flourishing lettuce, collards and cabbage, and found one of each was gone. As I watched the furry fat perp calmly waddle away, I briefly considered chemical warfare with poison. I then fantasized about deploying explosives, perhaps using “The Great Destroyer”, a commercially available anti-gopher smoke bomb, made of all three of the ingredients of gunpowder.
Realizing the neighbors might object to dead innocent bystanders, and swirling noxious clouds of smoke, I googled “electric fence”. There was a lot of speculation and conjecture, but no hard facts. Certainly, there were several products promising to keep pets and some pests out, but in an anonymous review of at least one product, two out of three rated them as junk. One person tried it, and reported that he thought it might be working, but still wasn’t sure.
The next day, there was more vegetable carnage. I rushed down to Tractor Supply, and impulsively purchased the Havahart® Battery Powered Garden Protection Kit. At $80, it was significantly less expensive than the other available units. At home, I opened the package. It contained all the materials needed to protect a small garden, including a ground rod, uprights, 250 feet of 17 gauge aluminum wire, an electric fence tester, and a warning sign. The fence energizer, powered only by 2 D cell batteries, claimed to be able to protect one mile of fence. Now I developed buyers regret. Its output seems to be only 800 volts, well below the usual agricultural electric fence voltage.
Set up was quick. I ran one wire 4 inches above the ground, another 8 inches.

When I accidentally touched the fence, I was again skeptical. Every second there was a perceptible, but not too unpleasant tingle. Realizing I had on rubber shoes, I experimentally stuck one finger in the ground, and then touched the fence. Zap! That was more like it! Then our dog contacted the wire. His loud, frightened yelps were music to my groundhog hating ears.
It has been two weeks. My garden is flourishing. Though I have yet to have the pleasure of seeing the groundhog contact the fence, I did notice an unusual sight next to the garden.

The desperate groundhog was 25 feet up an adjacent tree, no doubt plotting an aerial assault. If that’s the case, he had better realize I used to be pretty good at skeet. Pull!