hi kineala, if you know where the ants are coming in, pour a line of white vinegar across that area... for instance if you see them marching in through a doorway, pour your vinegar across that path and they won't cross it. They don't like to anyway.

I have wild grape, creeping charlie, virginia creeper and violets. AND creeping bellflower. If I really want to get rid of something I try heavy mulching starting with a bottom layer of cardboard and then straw or thick wood chips. Otherwise, I call it all free nitrogen and pull and drop. Have had to mentally rework my beliefs about 'weeds' and also try to remember that if something is growing there, it means it is doing something to heal that piece of ground.

Here is a short blurb about virginia creeper that might help you think differently about it.

Here is a link that might be useful: creeper for the birds and bugs

Thanks so very much for the quick response!

The ants are coming in the west side of my house, into my kitchen. Of course, this is through an area outside that is heavily planted with daylillies, blueberries and mint. Don't want to vinegar the plants... So... I'll look into the feasibility of the vinegar idea. Do you know how long vinegar will repel the ants?

Thanks for the pointer on the Virginia creeper. Its a nice looking vine, and the birds do seem to like it. To limit the internal buggies, I think I'm going to work to make sure that I don't have vines growing on my house (currently have v-creeper on a gutter drain pipe). & Maybe I'll embrace the rest... (as long as I can keep the poison ivy away...!)

I'm curious, what do you do for your vigorous vines that ensnare a tree? I have an area outside my back fence that is an overgrown/wild hedge. I like it, in general - it definitely keeps deer out of my yard from that direction. And the birds love it. Tho, The wild grape and Virginia creeper is ensnarled within that hedge and now growing up my three back dogwoods in the shady corner of my yard. I'm worried if the vines kill the dogwood trees and I have to take them out, then it will completely alter the shady area that I've planted there. I've been thinking of planing a large tree to compensate, just in case. Think that'll work? Or will the vines choke that out too?

THANKS! so much in advance! I'm kind of bumbling my way through all this... ;-)

The vinegar lasts for a few days but sometimes putting it there alters their 'trek' and they don't return at all. That's what happened at my old house.

If I had that creeper killing plantings that I designed into the space, I wouldn't hesitate to pull them off there. Or, I guess a person could build a fence and let them take that over in the spirit of totally working with nature. But, you already have the trees planted. When I tear out the creeping bellflower I always tell it that it could stay if it was polite but since it isn't polite it has to go. I'm only half serious, ha. We had some wild grapes killing a tree that we wanted to keep so we cut it down and dropped it for mulch around the tree. Same deal.. "sorry wild grape, but..."

Thanks for your previous comments...

The vinegar thing didn't work at all. Within hours the ants were back in the kitchen. After five straight weeks of battling them I'm getting ready to give up and put some spectracide or something down around the foundation of my house. I hate spectracide. But nothing natural I've tried works at all and I'm going crazy. What do you (or anyone??) do presently? I can't be the only person with this problem?

I like the concept, but I think I'm kind of bad at this 'permaculture' stuff. Sigh.

wondering if they are 'in' your kitchen rather than coming in continually. What we did once was get some of those black plastic round ant traps.. not sure of the company..but you just set them on the counter, under the sink, etc and they worked well. There is something in there that the ants take back to their nests and it kills them.

Better than poisoning your property with some nasty Monsatan chemical.

here, these are the things we used.

Here is a link that might be useful: ant bait

I've had good results using baby powder to repel ants in the house. Dump it generously along the cracks from which you see them entering; it either repels them or they don't like to walk through it...
I've used vinegar in the garden, dumping it into the ant hills,with some goodish results ;not as effective as the baby powder in the house,however. In any case, vinegar doesn't poison soil. Lots of people on the rose forum advocate using it to acidify alkaline water,but the effect doesn't last long. It shouldn't harm your plants, I'd think, unless maybe if your soil is already uber-acid...bart

you can get boric acid in a large box as a detergent. just dont put it near plants you want.

or, you can use DE (Diatomaceous earth)... both wash away with rain though.

taglefoot works great for small areas that are not disturbed.

for the vines,, cut back to the roots and just use some black plastic or a tarp over the roots and stump. add carboard and woodchips on top. - you can pull up the plastic in a couple of weeks.

I've heard it, and read it, but never tried it... can anyone answer whether Tansy really does deter, or repel ants?

Thanks to everyone for the comments on my questions. It's now been over a year since my original post on the ants I'm starting to know what I'm doing. I used some of those toxic plastic ant baits last year, put one of them outside near where the trail was entering because I was desperate. But that made me sad - I think I killed a chipmunk with it. :-( Earlier this summer I put a new (very happy!) frog pond in about 15ft away from my kitchen area where the ants are entering the house. & All toxic pesticides seem to be very damaging to acquatic life. So, I never did and never will put down nasty spectracide or bad toxic chemicals because I want to keep my ponds healthy.

I do have to constantly keep on top of the ants. I've established that the ants are entering my house to get out of the rain/weather, & they instantly make it into the kitchen if there's a grain of food or sugar *anywhere*. Super-clean kitchen is step 1. But sometimes they just come in for no reason what-so-ever. After trying virtually everything I've ever had suggested, the best exterior control for me seems to be:

1 - putting down all around the house - "Cedarcide red cedar insect repelling mulch granules". This stuff is just shredded cedar wood, & it keeps the ants completely away from the base of the house. Seems to be effective for about 2 months.

2. for the ants that climb bushes/vines and can get above the wood shavings (cuz they do get above the Cedarcide) - I use "Ecosmart Ant & Roach spray" on an every few day or as-needed basis for any trails that are entering the house. Active ingredients are essential oils, but this spray seems to work better than any single essential oil I've used alone.

3. a natural trap to lure the ants away from my kitchen = a pint mason jar with 1 cup corn meal, ~1/4 cup sugar, ~1/4 cup (cheap) maple syrup + a little water to make a paste. mix & close it up with 2 layers of cheese cloth & place it ~3ft away from where the ants are entering the house. The ants are attracted to the sugar/syrup mix, but they can't digest the corn meal. This doesn't kill all of them, but it attracts them away from the house and thins out their numbers. I've found that the cheesecloth on top of the mason jar is necessary, otherwise the birds wipe the corn meal out very quickly.

If I get ants that do enter the house I use Cedarcide liquid spray or lemon essential oil on a cotton ball. Don't want to make my indoor pets sick with anything else.

I'm also in the process of better sealing around my home so the ants can't get in the house in the first place.

Anyway, I've asked dozens of people about ant invasions in the house in a permaculture design. & A lot of the recommendations I've gotten didn't work well. So, I thought I'd share what has worked for me.

THANKS much, & hope this helps others...

tracy in MD