Natural Methods of Keeping Groundhogs Out of Your Garden

Groundhogs love to steal, eat, and trample your plants, but there are natural methods of keeping groundhogs out of your garden. These furry pests are a common ailment to many summer gardeners, and building a fence is an expensive means that does not always work. This article will discuss several natural methods of keeping groundhogs out of your garden.

Noise and Motion

Groundhogs can be pretty big and invasive, but they do have their fears. Noise and motion are scary to groundhogs, and if your garden is a scary place it is less likely for a groundhog to visit it for a mid day snack.

Pinwheels

Pinwheels are an inexpensive and whimsical method of keeping groundhogs out of your garden. These small wonders provide natural motion and sound that will scare off groundhogs. You can make your own pinwheel easily using paper and plant stakes and a few other common items. Placing these around your commonly eaten plants is a natural method of keeping groundhogs out of your garden.

Aluminum Pans

Another natural way to instill fear in groundhogs is making it noisy. You can do this by adding aluminum pans to your fence or from trees. You can also hang noisy items from garden stakes in between the rows in your garden. When the items bang together the noise will terrify the groundhogs and the will learn to keep out of your garden.

Smell and Taste

Just like humans groundhogs do not want to eat things that smell and taste badly. This method of keeping groundhogs out of your garden relies on natural items that smell and taste unpleasant to groundhogs.

Pepper Sauce Spray

In a spray bottle mix together about an 1/8th cup of pepper sauce and water. Spray this on all of the plants you want to keep safe from groundhogs. The groundhog will hate the burning taste from the pepper sauce. He will worn his groundhog buddies to keep out of your garden. Make sure to spray the mixture on your plants after heavy rain and watering to keep the strength in tact.

Peppermint Plants

Another natural method of keeping groundhogs out of your garden is with peppermint plants. Planting peppermint near the entrance and around the border of your garden will deter these common inconveniences. Groundhogs do not like peppermint and will stay away from it.

These natural methods of keeping groundhogs out of your garden are easy and inexpensive. Try these methods to keep your groundhogs under control and your garden happy!