Getting Rid of Ants In Your Garden

With Spring and Summer comes the advent of those creepy crawly ants and anthills that seem to be impossible to remove. Ants are an incredible nuisance, and if you spend a lot of time outdoors, then you will need some tips on how to get rid of them. The key? Go after the anthills, as once their primary residence is destroyed, they will not be able to stick around to pester you. Here are some ant killing recipes for your garden delights…

Baking soda and Icing Sugar. Ants love sugar and are attracted to it. If you combine icing sugar with baking soda, they will eat it until they swell and explode. Prepare a mixture with equal parts baking soda and icing sugar, and keep it in a bottle. Poke some holes in the top of the bottle and they will find their way in….it won’t be long after this. You can also spread the mixture around noticeable anthills and let the chemicals do the work themselves.

Grits or cornmeal. Ants like corn as well, but with cornmeal, they are unable to digest it. As a result, they will bloat up again until they explode. Prepare a mixture with some water in the same way as described with the baking soda trick. Spread some around your hot spots, and let the mixture do the work.

Other tricks that you can use involved spreading products around areas, or lines, where ants are known to cross. If they ‘cross the line’ then they will look for areas in your home or garden to attack. But there are chemicals that ants won’t cross, and using these methods you can get them to stay inside their anthills until they de-populate themselves, or use it in areas of your home where they are known to prevail.

Chemicals such as lime, baby powder, and salt are all good chemicals to spread around areas that ants are known to habitate. You can also use these chemicals directly on top of the anthills to kill an entire population. Lime particularly is corrosive to ants and will destroy them almost immediately. If they find it in areas they cross, they won’t go near it. The same goes for the other chemicals mentioned.

All of these methods will work, and require very little cleanup. Once you have killed your populations, the next rainfall will take care of the debris very easily for you.

How To Overcome Weather Challenges With Your Tomatoes

This year has brought on a lot of issues for tomato gardeners. Seems like just about everywhere in the world, the tomato season has been a difficult one. Spring temps have been erratic, and summer is not yielding necessary precipitation in many parts of the world. With water restrictions on the rise, this could be more than a challenge. This can lead to far too many hot dry stretches for your tomatoes.

As summer progresses, many of these challenges are not going to simply go away. Blossom End Rot is a common problem for tomatoes when they get too dry. This condition is the result of too little calcium when there is not enough moisture in the soil. This condition will affect the fruits more than anything, and it will appear like a dark soft bottom on the fruit that will get bigger as it gets more ripe. You can avoid this by picking off any fruit showing these symptoms, and spray the remaining foliage with a solution of calcium chloride that you will find in your local garden center. Water as much as you can.

Spider mites are another common problem with tomatoes. The drier your weather, the bigger this problem will be. The unfortunate thing with these pests is that they will explode in populations overnight, and they LOVE the hot dry weathers. These will kill a plant faster than you can say spider mite. You will notice them as small 8 legged critters that like to hide underneath the side of the leaf. They feed through a piercing they make in the leaf and intake fluids from the plant. A registered pesticide unfortunately is the only way that you will be able to control these beasts. Ask your garden center for a tomato safe pesticide, as some pesticides will damage tomato foliage. Another alternative is using strong water streams at the affected area.

Beat the heat this summer and attack your tomato issues before they become a real problem.

Protect Yourself by Getting Rid of Earwigs Naturally

Earwigs, also called pincher bugs, are those awful little critters with the beady eyes, long antennae and nasty looking pinchers sticking out behind it. Although these nasty insect pack a powerful punch if they pinch you, they won’t do any lasting harm should you come across one’s path. They are also quite aggressive so it’s important to get rid of them in your garden so that you won’t be hurt while gardening. There are many pesticides that will get rid of earwigs but these are awfully unhealthy for pets and children. Help yourself and your family by finding natural ways to get rid of earwigs.

You are most likely to find earwigs in damp, dark places. Also keep in mind that they love rotting vegetation. The first thing to do is clear away all the clutter in your yard including grass clippings, recycling or household garbage of any kind, and other debris. To keep them from getting in your garden, you can place pebbles around the garden that can help with drainage and also make a more uncomfortable home for any earwigs that are thinking of taking up residence there. If you’re having a problem with earwigs in the house, laying these around the foundation of the home can also help keep them outside.

The next step is to install a bird feeder. Earwigs are a favorite gourmet meal of birds and attracting the earwig’s enemy to your yard is sure to keep them away. A bird bath is another great way to attract birds to your yard. This will also help keep mosquitoes away as long as you change the bath water regularly. If the nasty bugs are still getting into your garden and eating away at all of your beautiful plants (roses and marigolds are favorites of the earwig,) you can still stop them naturally. Use a tuna fish can and fill it halfway with vegetable oil or bacon grease. Place one tuna can in the center of approximately four plants and repeat until all the plants in your garden are close to a can. The earwigs will jump into the grease, leaving your plants alone!

In case there are any stragglers or you are struggling with a severe earwig problem, always remember to wear gloves while you are gardening. These of course won’t get rid of your earwigs but will help make that pinch a little less painful should you come across one while spending time in the garden.

More Thoughts on Winter Bird Feeding

Now is the time to be thinking about feeding the many beautiful, fine-feathered friends who remain in our area for the winter. Providing food and water will attract a variety of birds, delighting us with their beautiful colors against the snow and perching on barren tree limbs singing melodic tunes. We can enjoy their presence all winter while we are housebound.
Bird feeding does not give instant gratification. When a feeder is placed outdoors, you may find only a few birds will feed at first. Depending on the menu you offer, those who do dine with you will probably spread the word and you will find your dining spot increase by leaps and bounds. But, remember you will be taking on a responsibility when feeding those birds. They will come to depend on you since natural food is limited in the winter. Water is also needed when ponds and creeks have frozen over. Water can be set out several times a day because it will most likely freeze.

What kind of birdfeeders can be used? There are tube feeders made with clear plastic so that you can see when feed is getting low. The tiny, small perches are perfect for small birds but discouraging for the larger birds you may not be interested in. Although suet (beef fat) can be made with plastic mesh bags that are used for onions, this method can be harmful for small birds if the mesh tears and they become tangled in the mesh.

Tray feeders can be used almost anywhere. The disadvantage is they are messy. Birds may scatter as much seed over the edge of the tray as they actually eat. Of course, the ground-feeding Mourning Doves and other birds will enjoy the spillage. There are many different bird feeders available; however, I’ve had more success with just placing a pie tin filled with seed out on the ground or on top of the snow.

Some birds eat a variety of foods, while others are quite particular. Choosing the right seed can help attract the birds you want and discourage those you do not want. The following is a list of the most common seed available at most stores that carry pet feed supplies: Sunflower seed, Thistle, Millet, Cracked Corn, Suet, feed shaped into bells, scraps of leftover bread, apples and nuts.
Making fatty feeders can be an indoor project for children, supervised by an adult. You will need the following supplies:

• small bowl
• selection of birdseed, nuts and fruit, bread
• bacon fat, lard or shortening
• small saucepan
• small plastic container (such as an empty yogurt container)

Fill the a bowl with birdseed, nuts, apples, cranberries, bread and anything else you think birds might enjoy. Mix everything together in the small bowl.

The grownup supervising this project can melt about ½ c. of fat or shortening in saucepan and pour over mixture in the small bowl. Leave it in a cool place to set. until hardened. When the fat has hardened, carefully pull of the plastic

Flying pests - Dodge the fliers!

Although wasps are a familiar summer time pest, one that has seen a re-emergence recently is the mosquito. These two fliers can make your spring and summer garden a nightmare instead of the haven it should be. As the weather becomes sultrier, insects will proliferate and become more active so what can you do to minimise their effect on your and your neighbours’ lazy warm relaxing evenings?
With wasps, the prescription is fairly familiar to most of us: keep foodstuffs covered, rubbish containers clean and compost bins well covered. Look for the nest near the ground or under the roof eaves and have it safely destroyed. It goes without saying that cooperative action among neighbours is the only way to have an effect on the problem, though.


Mosquitoes are an increasing though still rather unfamiliar adversary for us in the northern hemisphere. It was not always so as most of the world had a malaria problem at one time. This problem is threatening to re-emerge. Not all mosquitoes can carry disease, some species are innocent of this, although they can still cause irritation with their bites. It is not only malaria that can be carried either: West Nile Virus and Yellow Fever are other mosquito carried diseases. A mosquito is born clean and has to bite someone infected with a disease before it becomes a threat, something to think about with all the travelling we all do. So the only thing to do is ensure none of us catch one of these diseases.

Mosquitoes hatch in still water so make sure all puddles are drained, containers are turned upside down, birdbaths cleaned regularly, swimming pools well maintained with chemicals and fishponds kept well-stocked with fish. If you live near sewage works, campaign to have the pools covered. If you live near a lake, however, the best you can do is invest in bed, door and window nets and avoid the hours of dawn and dusk. You can also dress in close knit long sleeved and trousered clothing, eschew patio heaters (mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide) and use insect repellants.

Most insects have natural predators so one lovely solution would be to encourage birds to your garden in any way you can. Many feed on wasps or mosquitoes. Have a bird feeding station set up and keep it well stocked. Another gorgeous predator of the mosquito is the dragonfly, and of course don’t forget the bat!