An Army of Ants



Left to right: Lemon tree (he's shy), thyme,
chilli plant (freshly harvested), strawberry plant,
tomato one, tomato two.  And hiding from today's
photo the rosemary plant and the parsley



I was out pottering on the balcony this morning, pulling some evil looking weeds, sweeping a mountain of sand and tending to the plants.  I must say one of the tomato plants has been looking a little worse for wear and I was pretty sure he'd snuffed it.  But on closer inspection, I realised my poorly plant was vigorously growing new fruit!  Lots of new fruit!  I was thrilled.  So I've set about removing the dead looking leaves and ruined fruit, hoping that my tomato plant will pull through and be happy again.  The healthy tomato plant also has poorly fruit, which I have now put down to evil ant activity.  Not normal ant activity.  Evil ant activity.  Rabby informs me that ants can sometimes be good and sometimes be bad.  They can keep other insects away, but they can also eat your fruit.  Or in this case, tomatoes.  Thus, evil ant activity.  So, murderess that I am (if you're a caterpillar, run away) I set about tracking down these evil ants and thwarting their plan to munch through my tomatoes.  As usual, you find one ant, you find many and then you find the line.  The path they're travelling back and forth.  And you know what I discovered?  Those bloody evil ants were walking along the balcony, up the wall, up the brick and over into the neighbour's balcony.  It's those pesky neighbours again, with their evil bamboo plants and errant hosepipe (I got a soaking once).  They're sending ants over the wall to eat my plants. That's super evil.  Super evil neighbours with evil bamboo plants, evil hosepipes and evil ants.  An army of ants.  Well, I've already implemented methods to put an end to their reign of terror.  Ant bait.  Yes.  Ant bait.  I've put it right in their path.  Now they'll take the bait back to their queen and that will be the end of that.  Protect the plants at all costs!  We've used the ant baits in the house before and they work a treat.  Yes, there's an initial flood of ants as they're drawn to whatever it is they're drawn to but then they're thwarted.  I usually get Mystical Roo to set the ant bait as I struggle with the lugs.  The lugs - I have no idea if this is an official term - are supposed to easily snap off, revealing the poison and luring the evil ants.  Easily snap off?  Ha!  Maybe if you've got massive man hands.  Not so easy when you've got delicate lady hands.  There was much bashing with a pair of secateurs to get those bad boys off. And there were three of them!  But the bait is set, the trap is primed and the battle against the evil ants has begun.  Don't mess with my plants, or you'll have a Little Stalky to deal with.  And she's a bit psycho!