I have declared war on the Ants in my garden.

I WILL WIN THIS WAR!!!

When I was a kid I used to like to watch the ants which lived in the Mojave Desert where I grew up. Yes I did the magnifying glass thing a few times but I found that they were too quick to get hurt much so I satisfied myself with just watching.

This morning I checked my squash, which I've been nursing along since the freeze a few weeks ago. I noticed that one of the stalks upon which a flower should have been growing looked real bad. So I looked closer.

The F%#&@*$g ants had eaten the interior to the walls of the stem. I also found what looked for the world like the ground up pulp just under the stem on the dirt.

When I did a search on G.W. for ants There were 3356 matches. I must have read 100 just today. I also have done some googling for them today. Used coffee grounds, cucumbers (especially the peals) boric acid, lemon juice,orange oil, these are just some of the ideas I've come across.

I am trying to be organic so chemicals are out of the question. On the other hand every creature on the planet has something that will repel it and I am determined to find out just what that is for my invaders.

There are apparently 3 different species of ant in my garden. I suspect that one is the Argentine (very small black), another is the size of a carpenter but has a black butt and red front and a new one I just noticed this afternoon is a medium sized black ant.

Is there anyone out there who knows enough about organic chemistry who tell me what these items have in common. I know the citrus has citric acid but the coffee grounds and the cucumber peals??? Coffee might be tannin...Anyody got any other guesses?

Well enough ranting for one day...

R'