Ants

Hi, I am new to this forum and just hope that someone out there may be able to help.  I have a huge problem with ants in the garden this year,  I put in the usual seeds as always ths spring, carrots, lettuce, rocket etc, etc. and nothing grew but a small amount of rocket.I am putting this down to the amount of ants we have, if this is the case any suggestions?  I went to the agricultural merchant here in Greece and he gave me a powder called Pubex but I thought this was for fleas etc on animals!! He did suggest putting powder around each row of seeds after I had planted them.

Mmm-not sure that is is ants doing the damage unless there are nests are disturbing your seed beds and am not aware of the product you mentioned -what is its active ingredient that we could relate to in the UK?

Perhaps one solution is to grow in containers or another to raise seedlings in modules for planting out later when they are at a reasonable size?

Thank you for your reply I have so many ant nests in my garden, you would not believe.  Most of the ingredients listed are in Greek but one of the listings is Permethrin 0.460%.  I have now planted some veg into modules and they will be going out into the garden in a week or two and I had to revert to purchasing some young plants and forgetting sowing.   We now have temps in the mid 30's and it will get hotter so I could not leave a lot of things much longer or the young plnts would not survivie in these temperatures. 

I don't think the ants are going to like it

http://www.ehow.co.uk/info_8091678_permethrin-kill-ants.html

OMG!!!  It says harmful to animals yet people use it on dogs, cats and birds to control mites & fleas.  Thanks for the link, I will have to be very careful with this product.

The product you have has a very low percentage content-but like evertything just take care.

On a personal note are you an ex-pat living in Greece and do gardens differ greatly from those in the UK?-I suspect that temperature dictates a lot?

I asked a similer question about ants and was looking for companion plants, I had a reply to say mint seemed to work, so I was working on the theory it couldn't do much harm, so far it seems to have worked.

A word of warning though if you do go down this route, mint goes ballistic if it's not kept in a pot, I had a friend who just left hers and it took over the whole garden.... it did smell fantastic when she cut the grass though!

I am inundated with ant nests. Have lived in France for over 3 years with no problems but moved house last July and since trying to get the garden into shape this spring have found an overwhelming amount of ants.They are only in the garden not in the house for which I am very grateful! The only thing I have seen in the shops here to deal with them is a powder but just wonder how many I would need to get any control. I am also loathe to put powder down as I have a very nosy dog. Have been trying a few of the nests with boiling water today so will check them tomorrow for result. I don't mind using chemicals if I can get rid of them preferably something I could water in. Hope I can find a solution on here.

Sotongeoff, I will let you know how I get on. Yes I live in Greece and for 8 years we have tried to get a very large garden shipshape.  We made loads of mistakes but we are getting there now. It was like a jungle warfare school with 13 palms all about 15ft and 2 of the ugliest pines in the world, down to 6 palms and no pines. Naturally it is very hot in summer, 40+ in full sun but the garden is waterlogged in the winter and we do get the occasional hard frost. Trying to find plants that like the dry hot conditions but will survivie the winter is difficult. Thanks for all the replies everyone. and good luck getting rid of the ants., 

I had ant problems for about 10 years (but indoor) I had a nest in my fireplace beneath the back boiler. My mom read an article that ants HATE bay leaves. Apparently they are poisonous to ants. I placed a number of these leaves in my fireplace/around the boiler and I didnt get any problems at all this year.......its fantastic spread the word. I hope this is of help to you . Good luck.