What bothers you the most when you have a healthy vegetable garden? Many would talk about dangerous snakes, armadillos, dogs and other animals. But, it’s not always the big animals who are as persistent and irritating as ants. Yes! Ants may not be that harmful to your veggie garden, but they can be a stubborn nemesis.
Normally, ants attack when you spill sugary food or drink anywhere. But they don’t shy away from settling down with a huge mound in your outdoor garden. Worst is the carpenter ants which can eat through your wooden barricades. Food plants are always habitually invaded by a swarm of ants. They also don’t spare the sweet nectar inside the flowers of a flowering garden.
Ants are the real reason why your vegetable garden can be called a contaminated garden. This is because you use pesticides to get rid of them for good. But the problem is ants are persistent and they really need to be dealt with. So, how do we get rid of the ants in the vegetable garden? Please follow the simplest steps.
If your garden is invaded by ants, how to you plan to get rid of them?
Pour Tobacco Mixed With Water
Before using the pesticides in your veggie garden, think again. Pesticides can infect the groundwater & be harmful when you eat these vegetables. Ants love to build mounds in the outdoor gardens which need to go. When you encounter a mound, the first thing that comes to mind is to squash it with your feet. But that won’t help you get rid of them completely and you may damage your garden instead. The mounds are bases for these irritating insects, so getting rid of them is a priority. The best thing to do is to mix tobacco with water overnight. Then, pour that tobacco solution over the mounds. It will kill the ants in the vegetable garden hiding inside the mounds. You can also try to pour a paste of sugar and boric acid onto the mound to kill the ants as well. But make sure to put on a pair of gloves while dealing with these solutions.
But what if you don’t spot any ant mounds and see the ants coming from nowhere? Well, there are solutions for that as well. The best way to get rid of these creatures is natural ways which are environmentally friendly as well. Here are some things that will really help you to solve the ant problem:
Draw a Circle With Chalk
If you want to enjoy the site of a red line that ants would never cross, try some chalk. In this case, it is a white line. Simply draw a boundary line around any place you want to be restricted and see what happens. Ants would not cross that line.
Sprinkle Coffee Grounds
Let them have some coffee. Well, not making them a cup of coffee, but sprinkle some coffee grounds around your veggie garden beds. Ants are repelled off from the scent of coffee & your garden will be protected.
Spray Some Vinegar
You think vinegar can wipe your floors clean and get the stains out of your carpet? Yes, vinegar has many industrial, medical and domestic uses but spraying some vinegar in ant trails will discourage ants to pass through. Go to your kitchen, grab a vinegar bottle and try it. It is very effective to keep the ants away.
Use a Salt Solution
A salt solution can also make ants in the vegetable garden to retreat. Just spray a salt solution in any ant trails and they will not bother you anymore.
Spray Soapy Water
A solution of dishwashing soap with hot water can kill the ants. If you are tired and want to get rid of ants, this is a very easy method for you to go with at home.
Pour Lemon Juice
Lemon juice is very acidic and can be used for many purposes, including bleaching and cleansing, and has numerous health benefits. But it is also good for messing up the ants. Lemon juice completely mingles with their tracking senses and stops them from entering your garden.
Conclusion
Ants are not harmful creatures, but they are very irritating and persistent. They won’t just go away without a fight. But we tend to use pesticides to protect our garden without realizing how dangerous they are for our health. Normally they will swarm inside your house if you spill anything sugary, but they also don’t shy away from a possible invasion of your outdoor gardens. The most important thing is to make sure to destroy any ant mounds near your garden. But whether you are looking to get rid of this nemesis or their bases, natural methods are the best ways to go about it.
