torganic, the ants are destroying my dry-laid brick paver patio, so yes they are bothering me. I have read that I can mix boric acid with tuna or cat food and put it in a jar with holes punched in the lid. The ants will take some of it to the colony to feed them and that will get rid of the colony. Has anyone tried this? These are the Argentine Ants, that eat protein, like dead bugs and lizards. puzzlefan, thanks for the info, I will check it out.

Then we had an outside company come and spray 3 times in three months and they won't go away. ==>>> the ants .. or the company ... did they not guarantee their work??? did they happen to ID them??? .. and if not.. it makes one wonder .... you might want to invest in hiring another company ... who will guarantee their work ... and solve your problem ... in every project.. there does come a time.. when checkbook resolution is the only option.. if for no other reason.. peace of mind ... and frankly.. when i found them crawling ON ME ... it would be the time to do such ... good luck ken ps: i use the type at the link when they invade in spring [various versions per manufacturer] ... its the type rhiz is talking about ... over a couple days... i watch their paths ... and place them in places i know they travel.. and usually within a week.. they are gone.. until the next horde moves in [i figure.. a new nest???] .. lol .. and as noted.. the scouts leave a trail ... for others to follow ... so your repeated.. frequent washing.. kinda obscures the fact that the scout has to report back and his scent followed back by the workers.. who will bring the goo back to the hive .... [ i place some under the stove.. near the sink.. and near the toaster ... all food sources IMHO] Here is a link that might be useful: link

No, don't use boric acid. You want to use 20 Mule Team Borax (it's in the laundry aisle by the washing soda). Recipe depends if you have sweet eating ants or grease eating ants. If you have sweet eating ants, mix sugar with the borax (I think I use 1/2 cup sugar to 2 tablespoons of borax dissolved in 1 cup warm water). That's all Terro is, if you read the label. It should be pretty syrupy. If you have grease eating ants, mix the borax with peanut butter. Do keep it out of the reach of your pets - I've never found anything definitive saying borax is poisonous to pets, but my mutts adore peanut butter hence the bait isn't available to the ants! It doesn't kill them right away, but they will take it back to the nest. That's a good thing. You should see a steady population decline.

Our heater came on last night, Jennifer, and this morning. Oh you have dresses, don't you? Of course you do. LOL The strawberries at school are stretching up, too. I ran in this morning to see how things looked (wet in the low spot, but great everywhere else. And then back here to mow, and then weeded a bit. But on days that I mow, I mostly don't do a lot of other stuff. And sometimes NOTHING else. Garry had to get under the deck and put a cinder block under the steps supporting beam, as the steps had sunk some on one side. That was just about an all day project. Now we need to go get a couple pieces of lattice. And I need him to get the deck power-washed so I can get to painting. I am shocked--rain tonight and in the morning? Wow. I had a BUNCH of petunias coming up in the wheelbarrow. This morning I noticed they were all stripped to the stems. What is odd is that I have larger petunias in many other containers and they are untouched. I sure hope they STAY untouched! Do any of you have any idea what could have stripped those? It was a great day for mowing, but every time I went out just to sit, too chilly, so then I'd have to go walk around. There's not much action in terms of color. Stuff is happening very slowly. Verbena bonariensis, spider wort, hollyhock zebrinas are filling in, and the nicotiana, petunias, astilbes, and rose campion are JUST beginning. The hydrangeas are enormous, but taking their sweet time to bloom. Since they've been here (this is their fifth year), this is the latest they've been; usually by now they're in full bloom. I'm kinda liking this. I was looking at photos from 2 yrs ago. We are a couple weeks behind we were then. All's good out in the vegetable beds. I am a little freaked out with the flower beds. Remember, I panted SO many things last year. Sort of knew this could happen. . . . I see stuff coming up. Not remembering what I planted. Being fairly certain what's weeds and what's not. BUT just because I realize something is not a weed, doesn't really mean I have any idea what it is! There's a clumping plant out there--an obvious member of the mint faily (wow! Way to narrow it down, right? LOL) But it has no scent whatsoever. Rule out most herbs, right? The tiny worrisome part is that it is also sprouting in the veggie raised beds. . . What did you do now, Nancy! I know I have hyssop out there, several basils, but what else, no idea. No excuse for being in this position. Oh, wait. I have a list of stuff I planted out there in all the beds. I will have to retrieve and figure it out maybe. THIS year I was very careful to plant the labels with the plants. And then got the green beans mixed up with the okra, and now I'm not sure which is which. No matter--they're in styrofoam cups. I expect they'll let me know who is who. I soaked them all first, so they're sprouting up in record time--like 3 day was the earliest. I had ordered five aster tataricus from this obscure (obscure to US in OK--might be famous as all get-out in northern CA) nursery called Digging Dog Nursery. I ordered them in February. When I researched them and searched for sellers, this was the first one I found after much time looking. So it was a complete crap shoot. Then my debit card had a couple unathorized charges in Feb/March, so ordered a new one. Got an email from DD that my number didn't work; didn't see the email until maybe 7-10 days after they sent it. So called them frantically with new number. Then nothing.. . . 7-10 days later, got a voice mail from them saying perhaps they got the number wrong, could I call them. Well it was in the middle of a bunch of other stuff--plants for the school, phone calls from church people, and some family stuff. I totally forgot. But when the plant didn't arrive about when they should have, I called the nursery and wondered what the status was. She reminded me she'd left me a voice mail. I tell ya, friends, I am losing it!! BUT!! My plants arrived two days ago. They look healthy and perky. Do you all remember when I SO wanted my burn weed (which Jason identified correctly, of course) to be the aster tataricus. Well. At least the burn weed led me to the aster. I'm excited to see how it does. https://www.finegardening.com/plant/tatarian-aster-aster-tataricus Isn't it a riot to see the pains we all go through to get the plant of our dreams!! And of course, it's a toss of the dice.