Talkback: An orgy of ants

I was quite concerned about the amount of black ants. As i work in quite a lot of private gardens i did notice that from weeding paths to just general digging there was always a nest. It is the worst i have ever seen.

What can I do for next year about my potatoes,this year I planted maris piper and wilja's and have just dug them up and they are full of slug holes,beautiful lovely big spuds too. would it be an idea to lime next year or grow a different variety. I even have ducks on the garden who eat slugs !

Yes, I have a childhood memory of swifts and ants standing in my parents garden. The houses and gardens were built on the top of a ridge so away below were fields and meadow. Suddenly an ants nest went 'critical' and out swarmed all these flying ants. The swifts were not waiting for them to gain height but fell out of the sky and swooped around me at high speed. All the same the hunter becomes prey too, as there was a picture in the local paper recently of a hobby catching a swift! http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/search/4460213.Stunning_photos_show_bird_of_prey_in_action/

J.E.S I always sprinkle a few slug pellets in my potato trench when planting.  Seems to do the trick.