Battle with the Ants

I have been waging war against an apparently unending colony of ants. I have a feeling that this is common for many people around the world. The ants want food, my food, and I cannot stop them from getting it. I have used pesticides inside and outside. I have tracked down their ant hunters and tried to disrupt the trails they've created. (This approach is interesting but highly time consuming.) The ants are persistent and the pesticides were beginning to bother me.

This battle has been going on for some time. A few months ago I tried an experiment that has so far succeeded. The plan was simple. I gave up fighting them. I stopped using pesticides in the container garden I have and left the ants to their business...Outside. I immediately noticed the other insects in my garden began to multiply as well. Spiders are eating the little flying gnats that have plagued my roses and lemon tree. The ants are using the containers as condominiums. The caterpillars that usually ignore the chemical laden vegetation are eating their fill and morphing into moths and butterfly's. The bounty of insects has increased the number of birds that come to my small garden. The sparrows come to feed on the ants and others little insects. Balance in my little ecosystem has been restored and this has worked magic.

I no longer worry about ants inside. They have no need to come in. Everything they need is maintained around my home to give them a place to live beside me. Lesson learned.