Ants are valuable parts of the ecosystem and do a lot to keep our world green and growing, but they can be a real pest in the garden. It’s no fun to walk out to pick some vegetables only to suffer ant bites. It’s essential to know how to keep ants out of your garden to make sure that it stays pleasant and inviting.
When we know how to keep ants out of vegetable garden areas, we can enjoy nature’s bounty and not worry about insect attacks. This guide helps you find the best ways of getting rid of ants in your backyard and garden.
In this article, you’ll find some excellent non-lethal methods of getting rid of ants without harming them. We also show you how to kill ants in your yard with simple household products. Before long, your yard will be ant-free, and your family will be smiling.
Keeping Ants Out of the Garden
Ants don’t mean to cause harm, and they do a lot of good for the planet. That’s why you should first try to drive ants out of the garden using a natural way to get rid of ants. There are lots of ways to get rid of ants in your flower beds without killing them, and a few methods will improve your garden as they keep ants away.
Non-Lethal Options and Plants that Repel Ants
This section looks at ways of repelling ants without harming them. You’ll learn how simple products such as coffee and dish soap can keep your ants at bay. We also show you the plants that are the best natural ant repellent options around. You’re sure to find a non-lethal ant control option that suits your needs.
Keep the Ants Away with Coffee Grounds
They’re also a great way to get rid of carpenter ants naturally and eliminate fire ants, black ants, red ants, and other species of ants as well, without risking injury to your family or pets.
After you finish your morning pot of coffee, collect the wet grounds. Sprinkle them around the garden and in any areas you want to protect from ants.
Ants don’t like the strong coffee smell, which interferes with their scent-based communication.
Repel Ants with Baking Soda
There is an excellent way for how to get rid of sugar ants with an ingredient likely already in your pantry. Baking soda is a fantastic household product that you can use for a million different purposes. Keep several boxes on hand to use whenever you need it.
You can brush your teeth with it, use it as a laundry detergent, and place it in your fridge to absorb odors. Baking soda makes an excellent ant repellent, as well.
Like coffee grounds, you can use baking soda and not worry about harming other creatures, which makes it ideal for repelling ants. It’s one of the best home remedies for garden pests and other insects that you’ll find.
Don the gloves, and use the rake to smooth the area you want to protect. Sprinkle the baking soda on the ground, making sure to leave a layer everywhere the ants might walk. Reapply baking soda about once a week or after it rains.
Discourage the Ants with Dish Soap
Liquid dish soap is another multi-talented kitchen product. Dish soap is excellent for all sorts of activities, including cleaning clothes and killing fleas on your pets.
It makes a fantastic ant repellent, as well, and is one of the top natural ways to keep them off of your plants. The dish soap won’t harm your loved ones or the plants as it takes care of your ant problem either.
Dish soap is an excellent homemade remedy for carpenter ants, sugar ants, and more, that seem to invade the yard whenever you don’t want them to. To make this simple recipe, combine the soap and water, and fill the spray bottle.
Add the essential oil of your choice to improve the scent and add extra ant-repelling power. Spray all plants that you want to protect from ants.
Use this solution to keep earwigs away in the garden, too. It serves many purposes for pest control and won’t harm children or pets.
Repeat the application after rainstorms. You can increase the soap percentage if required, but a stronger solution can harm plants, so exercise caution.
Drive the Ants out with Cayenne Pepper
Cayenne pepper is more than just a condiment. It’s a source of capsaicin, which gives hot peppers their heat and bite. Cayenne is an ingredient in many pepper sprays and is a natural ant repellent. You can use cayenne to keep the ants at bay.
Sprinkle cayenne in the same fashion as you would baking soda. Cover any traffic areas and spots you want to protect from ant infestations.
If it rains, reapply the cayenne pepper. Always wear safety equipment when handling cayenne pepper to avoid irritating your eyes and nose.
Get Some Plants that Repel Ants
Ant-repelling plants are a boon to your garden. Lots of plants have natural defenses against insects, and you can use that to your advantage to guard against ant infestations. Adding plants that repel ants to your garden is a healthy and green solution to your pest control issue.
Plants that repel ants also attract beneficial insects to your yard and improve your garden’s health. Lavender is an excellent choice for your garden and will keep ants away in droves while gracing you with a pleasant fragrance.
Mint is another excellent choice, and as a bonus, you can use the leaves for tea and cooking. Rosemary takes care of ant issues, too. Always check your local conditions before planting.
How to Kill Ants in Your Yard
Sometimes, the non-lethal options don’t do the job completely or at all. If you’ve tried our ant repellent options and still have an infestation, you might need to reach for a homemade ant killer spray. Want to find a natural way to kill carpenter ants in trees or those that are hanging out by your wood pile?
We’ve got your answer and can help you get rid of your garden and yard ants, too. This section looks at lethal ways to keep ants out of your garden for good.
You’ll get some options for killing ants that require only a few simple ingredients you probably already have at home. We show you how to knock out your ant hills with boiling water and diatomaceous earth, and you’ll also get a fantastic recipe for a lethal ant trap.
Kill the Ants with Boiling Water
The best solutions are often ones that have the fewest moving parts. That’s certainly the case with boiling water, which is an excellent method for killing both surface ants and the queens of most ant species deep in the ground.
Use boiling water in any spot you wish to protect, but take care not to splash water on plants, as exposure to boiling water will kill them.
Don the clothing and gloves. Carefully carry the pot of water to the garden, and pour it on any anthills and ant populations you see.
Remember that the ant colony extends deep into the ground, so you’ll need to use a lot of water and repeat the action a few times before you kill the queen and eliminate the colony.
Eliminate the Ants with Diatomaceous Earth
There are a few effective ant killers you can make at home, such as a great homemade fire ant killer with vinegar. When you want to get rid of every ant, though, one of your best choices is diatomaceous earth.
Diatomaceous earth is made of microscopic algae fossils. It dehydrates ants, roaches, and other insects within a few days.
You’ll need to use food-grade diatomaceous earth. Sprinkle it on the ground near nests and ant trails, and wait. A few days later, the ants will begin dying. This method only works if you don’t have rain and don’t water the area around the ant mound.
Make a Homemade Ant Trap
You can always build ant traps if the other methods don’t do the trick. Ants love sugar and ignore warning signs to consume it, which makes it perfect ant bait.
When you combine sugar with Borax or boric acid, which is toxic to both animals and humans, you have a can’t-miss ant trap that will kill your unwelcome residents in a hurry.
For this Borax ant killer recipe for outside, mix the warm water and sugar until dissolved. Add the Borax, and allow it to dissolve, as well. Soak the cotton balls in the solution, and let them dry.
Place the cotton balls around the garden and near traffic areas and ant hills. Use care with this solution if you have pets or small children, as Borax is dangerous for them.
Ants can be a problem elsewhere, as well. Keep ants out of hummingbird feeder by putting an ant moat of water around the nectar or spread a little petroleum jelly on the hanger that holds up the feeder. Both will trap the ants before they can get to the nectar.
We hope you enjoyed our ant repellent guide. Keeping ants out of your garden can be a full-time job if you don’t know what to do. This information can help you find the ultimate ant control option for your needs. With our assistance and gardening tips, your ant woes will soon be at an end.
Thanks very much for reading our ant prevention tips. If this guide on how to keep ants out of your garden helped you, please share it on Facebook and Pinterest.