Steve Latham said:


"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
Steve Latham said:

[snip]

In my experience, rabbits don't bother squash much except to eat the
flowers, sometimes.

Well, that's what I was thinking. Those leaves (and stems) are kind of
"spikey" - I quess they're "hairs" but they're pretty rigid, and for
instance make it uncomfortable on your forearms to reach in there.


But groundhogs will munch squash leaves down to stems. And they will
munch on the fruit.

Hmmm. Now that sounds like a potential culprit. One of the kids across the
street said they had a groundhog in their yard. I didn't believe him, but
maybe I should consider this.

Now, how do I keep a groundhog out?

Strong fence, reinforced at the bottom either with buried wire running
outward under the ground or by large concrete blocks running along the
perimeter (makes a good mowing strip). At the top, some electric fence
lines or an outward flop of chicken wire (so that when they climb the
fence, they either get a jolt or they flop over and fall off).

Groundhogs will climb, but they perfer to go under. And they tend to
dig right at the base of the fence. If they can't dig through there, they
don't think to back up a foot and try again.

If they can't go under, they will climb, so the top of the fence has to be
protected, too.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)