Ants

[Pete Budd]

I have one plot that is heavily infested due to the sandy nature but the only real draw back is with seedlings. Ants and mining bees burrow and tunnel in the seed bed and can cause serious root disturbance at a crucial time. If conditions are good for germination and establishment of the young plants I can get away with it but the recent cold spell meant that early growth was poor and seedlings eventually died off. I`m experimenting with sowing into garden compost to see if this helps. You could encourage Green Woodpeckers which feed almost exclusively on ants or try to eliminate all the nice cosy little places that ants like but I know this would be very difficult, they`re very tenacious and persistent.