Gardening and Carpenter Ants

First things first, which was to get the car operating that we leave in Maine, and then the next day to return the rental car and get food and other supplies.  The lilacs, a standard in many New England yards, were out in full force; their large lavender cone-shaped blooms were very showy, so driving through our local towns was a joy.  Bill’s priority the day after that was to get the netting up on the porch.  The blackflies were essentially non-existent, but the mosquitoes were ferocious. Now they too are essentially gone during the day, thanks to dragonflies and flycatchers.  The screening on the porch has given us another bug-free room, and allows us to open the front door when it’s hot (front is always the lake side).  At the same time, access to the deck from the porch is temporarily closed off, but that will be remedied pretty soon.

It was 90 degrees the day we arrived, May 26, and two nights later, it was in the low 30s.  As a result of the temperature fluctuation, the garden finally went in a little late this year, around June 3^rd and 4^th.  There’s always a bit to attend to before that, including rototilling it and removing the tree roots that grow through the compost (in 3 years), and I’ve had a right hand and wrist that have been giving me trouble, which have made even the daily activities of life difficult, so this has hindered me.  I have planted very little:  green beans, kale and basil (makes great pesto) from seeds and a grape tomato plant that I bought from the local greenhouse; it now has large clumps of green orbs developing from many yellow flowers.

Grape Tomatoes

The day after I rototilled, I started to hoe rows in which to put compost; all of a sudden, carpenter ants, both flying and crawling ones, appeared in my rows.  I started squishing them in my gloved or bare hands – watch out, they pinch if their mouthparts come in contact with skin!  Bill also read that when one squishes them, they release pheromones which signal danger to others, and many more come running to the rescue.  After all, they are a social, colonizing insect, unlike mosquitoes.  I must have killed close to 100 carpenter ants that day, and Bill got some as well, with more the next day.

Needless to say, their hatch got ahead of my spraying this year, but this was a super abundance, more than we have seen in previous years.  This made spraying a priority, so I went into my exterminator mode.  Years ago, we had a service, which had to come all the way from Bangor, about 85 miles.  It got to be difficult to schedule and expensive, so since then, I have sent away for carpenter ant extermination supplies, the same product professionals use.  The state of Maine allows individuals to buy it, unlike some states where that is prohibited.

Some ants, both struggling and quite active, appeared in the house, so for the next few days, we were on ant patrol inside, or to be clear, I was the chief patroller since the ants’ activity is 11:00PM- 2:00AM; I am generally up until midnight or a little after, but Bill is in bed long before then.  One night, I was in my study, I turned around, and an ant was making its way along the floor; I did it in, turned off the light, and went into the bathroom where in the next 10 minutes, I killed 2 more.  Then on to the kitchen and into the living room -- I have found them on the edge of and in the kitchen sink, on the top of the wastebasket, and even scurrying around my pant leg while sitting at my computer!  They made it into the porch enclosure too.  This went on for several days.  In the meantime, I removed the leaf litter around the shrubs near the house and around the vegetable gardens as that is where they nest.  They picked up the extermination material that I sprayed around the foundation of the buildings and carried it back to their nests, so this was not an instant kill, but took several days.

While this carpenter ant episode was going on, two garter snakes, one larger than the other, were near my big veggie garden, and a large toad was on the rock perimeter of the other.  I urged the toad to “go get ’em” but it seemed happy to just sit there!  It could have had a feast had it found all that I did in my leaf removal.  Anyway, the carpenter ants are long gone, but that was a new challenge for us.

The happy news is that the gardens in general are thriving, both vegetable and floral.  The flowers have been glorious, first the Bachelor Buttons, then the Rhododendrons (whose buds start out a brilliant purple and then when fully open are lavender), Cranesbills (in the Geranium family), and Siberian Irises, and now the Astilbes, Evening Primroses, Spiderworts, and Sweet Williams, as well as Morden’s Blush and Rosa Rugosa roses.  Even the Digitalis is blooming in back of the garage, and my cherry tree (Stella) has more cherries this year than all previous years together; this was a result of having some trees removed last summer which has given Stella more sunlight.  Although the cherries are small, they have wonderful flavor and are sweet.  The challenge is to get to them when they are ripe before the birds and squirrels, not an easy task, as I have already seen nibbled ones on the ground.

                                        Cherries                                                                        Cranesbill

Digitalis

Evening Primrose & Astilbe

Spiderwort

Wishing you a good and healthful summer,

 Marilyn