[elainew50]

From a newby to the site...  I am planning on growing vegetables and fruit in my largish garden but am plagued with ants.  They seem to be devouring everything I put into the soil.  I don't want to kill them all but in both the beds I have dug, there they are.  How do I convince them to move house - preferably into the school playing fields next door to my garden?   

[Trillium]

Ants hate cultivated soil so keep turning the area over or weeding a lot, add lots of manure and compost to their favourite spot and they'll quickly move on. If you know where the nest hole is, dig into that as well and they'll move even faster.

[James1]

Why dont you want to kill them? You might not be left with little or no choice, because based on my experience its just going to be very hard to move them.

Let us know how you get on.

[elainew50]

Thanks guys for the messages.  I don't want to kill them because they are not doing anything wrong, they are living their lives the way they know which may cause me a bit of inconvenience and a few extra plants but I don't believe it is a reason to kill them.  I will try the cultivation and compost and hopefully I will get a resulting good crop.