We've gotten the same thing, first in the regular patch, most recently in an alpine strawberry. I read somewhere that you can simply flood the ant hills with water - pour a watering can full on them every few days. It drives them out - they don't like wet conditions. Tried it, it works. Strewing tansy leaves around didn't work as well.

The organic way would be to look at the ants and say what are they doing in my strawberry patch, rather than how can I kill them. Only after you determined that the ants where actually harming your strawberry patch would you think of some means of control. Ants are beneficial insects in the garden, part of Ma Natures recycling machine, and need not be controlled, unnecessarily.

I figure they're in the strawberry patch because they like sandy soil. They swarmed our hands when we worked in the patch, and they tunneled under some plants so thoroughly that the plants were dying - two good enough reasons to get rid of them. John's mileage may vary.

There's the question of whether they cause harm indirectly, by 'enabling' aphids on other plants.

another way is to prevent the ants from colonizing before you plant your strawberries in the spring. If I see an ant colony in my garden, about a week before I start planting I begin turning the soil daily and keeping it moist (not enough to drown the ants, just make them a little miserable) Once they realize that the garden makes a terrible home, they just move out and live somewhere else in the yard. This also works with compost piles.

I havent had a problem with ants that I knowof...but my strawberry bed is elevated about one foot above ground level and border one side of my pond.
BUT...I have an abundance of bees...so much so I can only go into it when they decide to let me...LOL...I have to talk them into a deal almost everyday...usually starting with...now comeon...I planted them..you could at least let me enjoy them too!

I have a problem with fire ants in my stawberries. They ended up eating most of the berries, & did a good job trying to eat me! LOL...but those bites really hurt. I have a terrible problem with fireants in my garden & my whole yard. They ended up eating most of my potatoes (the tubers). I've tried pouring boiling water on the mounds but they just move them elsewhere. And they seem to be everywhere, even many feet from the nearest mound. Does anyone know of an organic method of destroying fireants? I fear my whole property is undermined with them!

For good, solid information about Fire Ants go to the Texas A & M website on Fire Ant Control.

Here is a link that might be useful: TAMU Fire Ant website

Kimmsr - thank you! That is an awesome site - very informative. And I can actually find an organic cure for fire ants at Walmart!