For the groundhogs you might want to look at burying fencing/chickenwire at the base of your beds to keep them from digging under it. I placed my fencing about 6-7 inches under the soil with another 5 or so inches running parallel outward from the beds. Basically burying an L shaped barrier with the base of the L facing away from the beds. If you use a removable covering for the deer the "groundhog fence" would only have to go up as high as needed to attach it to the walls of your beds. Do consider how you'll attach the bottom of your removeable deer fence. You'll want it to be secure enough that groundhogs (or other critters) can't just pull it away from the walls of the beds and slip in to dine. Best to you!

I planted 10 unprotected blueberry bushes this spring and something has been occasionally shearing off the growing tips - not eating them, just snipping off anywhere from a few inches to a foot of cane with a clean diagonal cut and leaving the cut piece next to the plant. Likeliest candidates seem to be rabbits or deer, as I haven't seen any groundhogs this year. I don't know if this is going to harm the bushes' growth over the long term and if the critters will back off once the bushes are bigger, but it is distressing. ~emmers

Boy, do I have experience with this! Just Monday, my neighbor and I had the last 3 kill traps taken out. We have been involved in an ongoing battle with groundhogs since about March. We used the Humane wildlife company and caught the first few with the have-a-heart traps. But alas, we couldn't get them all and finally ( not our choice) the company told us that it seemed the only way we would be able to rid ourselves of them was the kill traps. We were both afraid of falling in a hole that we might not see, a very real possibility in my garden. They had dug one alternate hole in the back of my garden ( which just got filled in with rocks and soil yesterday.) Our final total ( and we hope this is the end, but have paid through the end of this year if we see more) is 11 groundhogs, 5 possums ( relocated) 1 skunk. Here's the good news: they don't seem to like daylilies! They did eat some of my Rudbeckias and Echinaceas almost down to the ground. Also munched out on some clumps of Euphorbia,but they didn't touch the daylilies and there were hundreds around where they went for the other stuff! Good luck with your groundhog issues! Our state has a law prohibiting relocation of groundhogs, as they are considered pests, so even if you catch them here, they have to be humanely euthanized. This whole thing has been a nightmare- they dug numerous tunnels under the back of my neighbors and our property. I have an AHS Display garden which had to be closed right at peak bloom this year. Ugh!

I will have to check our local places and see if they have milorganite. Can't hurt but to try it. And, speaking of other critters.....I peeked out at my garden this morning and what do I see but a wild turkey pacing back and forth in a corner of the garden. The goofy thing must have flown in and then not be able to find a way to walk out. I tried to walk slowly out to the garden and open the gate for the poor thing, but I wound up just scaring it more. After running very fast all around the back of the garden, it decided to just fly out again. Silly things.