Ants in the lawn

Hi Doug. We have a few large ant hills in our lawn. Everybody talks of getting rid of ants, but aren't they a good part of nature? If we try to get rid of them, where will they go? Ten feet away? The neighbour's yard? Into our house? Aren't they doing more good than harm? I'm wondering if they're more of an annoyance, and taking up my time worrying about them, and maye they should just be ignored? I realize you have an acreage so probably just leave them alone, but what about when we live in the city?


Doug says that ants are nature's clean up crew. They don't harm trees, shrubs or peonies but rather are there eating fungus or taking advantage of wounds and the sweet sap.

On lawns - simply mow as high as you can. That removes the ants because you can't see them. :-)

On driveways etc read this article for natural ant control systems in the home garden.