A woodchuck will eat anything green that it finds in your Heirloom / Open Pollinated Vegetable Garden. Woodchucks, often called groundhogs, come out of their underground burrows for their first meal at dawn. They’re lazy and like to make their home near there closest food source,like your Heirloom / Open Pollinated Vegetable Garden. You can tell if a woodchuck is eating your Heirloom / Open Pollinated Vegetable Garden because it moves down one row at a time, eating everything in its path. After their morning mowing of your Heirloom / Open Pollinated Vegetable Garden, woodchucks go back underground to sleep it off. You might spot them again in the evening coming out for another meal.

They prefer not to travel very far from home to get food. If you can get them to relocate their burrows away from your garden, they may not bother you again. Find all the woodchuck holes around your Heirloom / Open Pollinated Vegetable Garden. They like dry spots for a burrow and they dig two entrances. Pour some moth crystals down each entrance or pour in a little liquid creosote, which is available at paint stores. Don’t get any creosote on your hands as it will burn, which is what it does to the woodchucks belly. He’ll be smart enough to look for new quarters. Pouring some used motor oil down both entrances will often discourage them. They like to keep their fur clean and dry. You can use a “Havahart” trap to catch a woodchuck but be sure to release them at least a mile or so from your garden.