General Schvantzkoph wrote:

I'm planning on putting in tomatoes this year, however I have a woodchuck
living in my yard and rumor has it that woodchucks love tomatoes. Turing
(my woodchuck) is a cute little guy so I'm not going to trap or kill him.
Trapping would be hopeless anyway, I gave up gardening 20 years ago
because after trapping and moving 10 raccoons a year for 4 years I failed
to make a dent in their population (I moved them seven miles away to the
other side of the Merrimac river so I don't think it was the same ones
coming back).

I'm thinking that a fence around the garden is the only means of keeping
the woodchucks and raccoons out. My question is how tall does it have to
be and how deep to I have to bury it in the ground?


We've been growing tomatoes here in our garden for the past 27 years.
We have woodchucks aplenty but never have we had a problem with them
bothering the tomatoes. That may be because they have access to 20+
acres of an alfalfa/clover mix. As for raccoons, they've never
bothered the tomatoes either. Now, sweet corn, that's another thing.
They know exactly when it is going to be ready to pick and they
destroy the whole patch the night before. In past years, they also
took more than their share of our chickens.
The pests we have the most problems with are the wild cottontails.
They will nip off almost any tender young plants, lettuce, beans,
peas, cabbage, etc.

Ross
Southern Ontario, Canada.
New AgCanada Zone 5b
43º17'28.63" North
80º13'28.55" West
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