I think I am O.K. I got a magnify glass amd I think those varments were ants. I elimanated them ,
I think!
Rochelle

when ants hatch, many of them have wings. they will swarm, just like termites. thats how new "families" are started.

anette

Hmm, I did pretty much the same thing this year- except I used cement blocks to make the raised beds (with expensive dark topsoil) instead of timbers. The one I just dug for the fall had a ton of ants all over it too! I figured it was no biggie though, and didn't do anything about it. I have a ton of fall crops sprouting in there now...should I be worried about the ants? Like will they hurt the lettuce, beets, turnips, peas, etc if left alone?

The worst thing that ants do that I've found is they aid aphids. (I've heard they even "farm" them by moving them around.) However that's very easy to deal with. A benefit to ants is they do aerate/loosen the soil. We always have several colonies on our property, never an issue.

I do the same thing with snails

Here is a link that might be useful: vegetable garden patches

Instead of using granules to kill the ants, I would use an ant trap with poison bait,outside the raised bed. I worry that the granules got into your soil. Ants love to make their nests in potting soil so I guess they would love that purchased 'top soil' too. They can farm aphids and spread them, and scale and mealybugs. I only put out traps for a short time, when the nest is dead I pull the trap so I don't attract ants from other parts of the garden. Put in zip lock bag for later use.

Do you all know the herb epazote? It deters ants. I had a key lime tree that was full of ants. Not sure if the ants hurt anything, but they are a bother when picking the fruit. I planted epazote under the tree and they are gone! Having said that, make sure you have a containment method because it is a little like mint, invasive. I have it on the bed with mint, I figured they could fight each other out....they do!

well i posted back in August that my new bed had lots of ants. Just figured I'd report back that it was no problem. I still see a few ants here and there but nothing like back in August. Everything grew fine except my spinach is still small. I harvested tons of lovely lettuces, turnips, radishes, peas and beets. The only other problem was imported cabbage worms ate the kale up. Next year I'm planning on getting agribon row covers to protect from the worms. The ants though- no problems!