My guess is the ants were in something you added. I would dump it out and regroup.

I'd ignore them. They will move on as the bed dries out some and they don't pose a threat to anything anyway. I agree they were probably in one of your additions but in general ants are considered garden neutrals unless they are fire or carpenter. And with cedar the odds of them staying are slim.

If you feel you just have to do something, pour boiling water on them.

Dave

i'd let them be as well. it is "ant season" around here and they are all over the place now that it is warm. saw one of the biggest ant colonies i've ever seen on my property. i thought someone painted my sidewalk black, when i took a closer look, there must of been a million ants with a massive trail that extended half a dozen feet or so..

most ants are harmless in the garden and in some cases can be beneficial as they will attack a lot of bad insects if their colony is close by.

That`s a relief! I thought they were actually attracted to the cedar (smells so good to me) because they`re going bonkers around that bed.

What surprised me was that I saw not one while filling and grooming the bed (its my 1st bed, it looked edible by the time I was done!) and then Bam! I`m in Quebec, Canada and we had an unusually mild winter so I suspect we`ll be having more ants and mosquitoes this year. Yay...

Do standard garden ants ever bite? We also have quite a bit in the flower beds that are hedged by river rocks - I suspect it makes good crevasses to build homes in - and when I was digging in there last year I got a few hits.

On a side note; I`m SO EXCITED to be gardening for the 1st time in a looooong time. I`ve been cooped-up in the city for over a decade and we just bought our 1st house on an acre. I just hope my middle-aged bones can keep up with my ambitions! In short, I`ll probably be posting lots around here.

As long as they don't start farming aphids you will be fine.

I'm pretty sure that ants in La Belle Province (Quebec) so I would let them be.

Linda

Congrats on your new home and garden! They may have been disturbed and should find a new home. You have a coupe years of 'settling' and all should work out. Just pay attention and research any new troubles as they arise.

A daily watering ( or 2 or 3) should motivate them to move but where would you want them to move to?

When I checked yesterday the corners of the bed where black with ants, all in the crevasses where the cedar boards meet. The soil was crawling and I'm not exaggerating, its like the bed IS an ant hill.

This morning my husband says he's figured-out what they're going bananas over: He whipped the corners with mineral oil to prevent the wood from splitting.

I had tried to see whether they liked fatty or sugary treats and they definitely loved the sugar and ignored the peanut butter. But there's surely something in that oil that they like. A lot.

Check and see if they sell "Terro" where you live. It a sweet base poison for ants. They carry it back to the queen, so you kill the entire hive. It is a poison for pets also, so be careful to keep away from them. I usually put it down in an empty bottle or jar that is too small at the top for anything but ants. Lay it on it's side where the ants have a trail.

Most Ants love sugar - most peanut butters will have sugar in it. You can also make your own ant bait using a sweet food (soda, juice, or sugar, etc.) and Boric Acid which is what is in Terro.

Yep, made a batch of sugar water + Boric Acid and they looooove it. I feel bad because I know ants aren't the enemy per say but this is off the charts.

Mineral oil is petroleum based and has no food value. To get rid of ants, I puff some diatomaceous earth in their vicinity and they leave as fast as they can.

don't be surprised if you find yourself battling bigger insect problems later, which the ants would of protected your garden from. they will wipe out almost any kind of beetle that comes near the garden they call home.

Good point stevie. Every time we start killing off something that poses no threat, simply out of fear or mis-understanding, we pay the price for it later on. But that is something gardeners have to learn on their own.

Dave