Man vs. Beast
I have given up gardening (“My Groundhog, My Nemesis,” May 7). My grandfather used to say, “Plant two — one for you and one for them,” so I played by the rules but the woodchucks did not. The best deterrent I ever tried was fox urine in cups around the perimeter of the garden. Chucks disappeared almost immediately — however, they were quickly replaced by foxes. A friend had them under his shed, found about six holes. Someone told him that dog hair is a deterrent. He got enough of it to stuff the holes and quickly discovered it was useless. He went and bought the bombs and did two; the dog hair caught fire and so did the shed. The lawn mower and snow blower went up with it. This area has tons of local farms
— it’s much less frustrating to give your support to them and not the chucks.
Bill O. posted on bostonglobe.com
Michael Tougias was on the right track with the chicken-wire fence but he should have buried 1 foot of it in the ground.
Robert Gamache Berkley
I could have written this! The only difference is that a word that begins with “F” usually precedes “groundhog.”
cookspl posted on bostonglobe.com
I’d rather buy vegetables than engage in hand-tohand combat with a fancy rat. ddiedow posted on bostonglobe.com
I never laughed so much in my life. Tougias is a hysterical writer. I can truly associate with his frustration because I’ve lived it. Josephine Antico
Byfield
I have a solution: dog poop. I rid my garden by spreading waste from our dog at its perimeter. When our dog died years later, the woodchucks returned; we were planning to move so I just re-seeded. An easy solution for dog-owning gardeners.
Debbie Ginsberg
Newton
We love tomatoes and so do the woodchucks and squirrels. We now put plastic strawberry containers around the green tomatoes until we pick them. The critters haven’t figured out how to open the containers yet. I end up sacrificing the unprotected tomatoes, but that’s OK. I still get a big crop.
Newton-mom posted on bostonglobe.com
Two other things you can do: 1. LED strobe light, motion detector-activated animal deterrents, placed in the garden or at the groundhog’s entrance/ exit points. 2. Movementactivated, high-pitched sound deterrent devices. You can get devices that are solar powered/recharged.
The animals are not smart enough to wear earplugs or to use sunglasses.
Boston runner posted on bostonglobe.com