help! ants in the garden!
what do you do when ants have swarmed your garden?
i was pulling weeds and something bit my foot. i looked down and my sandal-ed foot was covered in little ants. only one bit me though. i promptly freaked out and stomped and kicked and backed away, brushing all the little ants off my foot. but there were suddenly millions of them running all over a section about 3 feet long in the garden. i tried stomping them without much effect. i backed away, and backed away 3 times. there just kept being more and more of them. and i got bit again on the other foot. i gave up and ran out of my garden and made sure no more ants were on me.
i'm a bit freaked out, a bit afraid to go back in my garden. i've never seen that many ants in my garden before. yes i've seen ant swarms like that before, but not IN my garden, where the soil is dug up and disturbed repeatedly.
i think this many ants might require some kind of treatment. i need to know i can go in my garden and not be swarmed and bitten by ants!
but i dont use pesticides or herbicides in my garden. i try to stick to natural stuff. like mulching to prevent weeds, digging in compost instead of fertilizing, and picking bugs and drowning them rather than spraying.
but what can i do to make ants go elsewhere, and NOT elsewhere IN my garden?
if that cant be done without pesticide, what can i do to kill that many ants, and do the least harm to my garden. i can avoid planting vegetables there for the next few years. there are sunflowers there this year.
i am in minnesota, usda zone 4, so these are NOT fire ants, just regular little ants.
a photo
i was pulling weeds and something bit my foot. i looked down and my sandal-ed foot was covered in little ants. only one bit me though. i promptly freaked out and stomped and kicked and backed away, brushing all the little ants off my foot. but there were suddenly millions of them running all over a section about 3 feet long in the garden. i tried stomping them without much effect. i backed away, and backed away 3 times. there just kept being more and more of them. and i got bit again on the other foot. i gave up and ran out of my garden and made sure no more ants were on me.
i'm a bit freaked out, a bit afraid to go back in my garden. i've never seen that many ants in my garden before. yes i've seen ant swarms like that before, but not IN my garden, where the soil is dug up and disturbed repeatedly.
i think this many ants might require some kind of treatment. i need to know i can go in my garden and not be swarmed and bitten by ants!
but i dont use pesticides or herbicides in my garden. i try to stick to natural stuff. like mulching to prevent weeds, digging in compost instead of fertilizing, and picking bugs and drowning them rather than spraying.
but what can i do to make ants go elsewhere, and NOT elsewhere IN my garden?
if that cant be done without pesticide, what can i do to kill that many ants, and do the least harm to my garden. i can avoid planting vegetables there for the next few years. there are sunflowers there this year.
i am in minnesota, usda zone 4, so these are NOT fire ants, just regular little ants.
a photo
