ants

ANTS
rule number one
if they aint bothering you dont worry about them
ants do have a reason for being on this earth
yes that even includes fire ants

my philosophy on fire ants
if they arent in my garden or where i step on them
and get bitten i dont worry about them

here at the country n the three ants that are a problem
are


the fire ant
when i start watering my garden well or if we get a bit
of rain they will pop up in various places in the garden
i usually step in them
or
put my hand on top of the mound when im tending the garden
only realize they are all over me when the leader says
ok are we all in place
in my shoes up my pants under my gloves under my collar
when i say go the leader says
lets all bite at the same time
one two three go
thats when it hits me hard that im covered with those little
varmints
and i usually shout &^%$)#@


then for some reason the sugar ants take a liking to our kitchen
they will go for months and months then
bam theres that long line of ants like a african safari
going up a hill or across a plain

the fire ants i control with old fashion grits sprinkled around
the mound and or
spinosid sprinkled around the mound
then
a solution of orange oil poured all over the area
that usually gets rid of them
granted they pop up somewhere else but thats ok
some folks sprinkled molasses over the area

then the sugar ants are controlled with
boric acid or roach pruff is one brand and jelly or jam or
honey
i take a lid from a jar
add a sprinkling of boric acid
add a tsp of home made jelly or preserves
mix it all up and leave it sitting around
they attack that lid so thickly that it looks black
after several days sometimes a week
the numbers seem to just go away

be patient on this treatment as they ants have to take it
back to the mound and feed it to the other ants there
eventually wiping out the colony

if i get tired of waiting i will spray a solution of orange oil
along their path or on top of them
they do not like orange oil and will try to avoid crossing
the orange oil line


then there are the red ants or harvester ants
they will take a portion of your yard and in a big circle
take over it
they are really harmful unless you stand on their mound area
too long
like they say ok if you arent going to move we will send an
army over and bite you
when they bite it hurts then it hurts worse then it hurts worse
almost like a bad arthritis spot on your joints

you dont need to get rid of them unless they are hurting you
or unless they have deformed a big circle of your yard

i scattered a large amount of seeds on my garden bed to establish
some buckwheat for a green manure crop
looking closely at these little guys they had moved a large
quantity of these seeds to their mound 15 yards away

so i dont treat the harvester ants since they aint bothering me
although if i had a dumb dog or had small kids i would
treat them

one treatment for these red ants is to sprinkle aspartame or
equal or nutra sweet around and on the mound
it seems to make them go away killing a lot of them
kinda scary huh since we some of us use this in our drinks

but the best reference for controlling all kinds of ants
is this link to the dirt doctor
its all organic and yes it works

click here

the organicgreen doctor

stats from screening, keyhole garden, burn those weeds

STATS FROM SCREENING


weve all endured those searches at the airport
we just all grin and take it

the department of homeland security recently released a months
worth of statistics from these searches

terrorists discovered
0

transvestites
133

hernias
1485

hemorrhoid cases
3172

enlarged prostates
8249

breast implants
59350

natural blondes
3

humm

KEYHOLE GARDEN
ive written several times on keyhole gardens
ive got one at my house now using an old 8 ft water trough
im glad to hear ive inspired several people to build them one

here is a photo of one that jim built
pretty dang imressive jim

looks like one that should be on hgtv or some garden magazine

BURN THOSE WEEDS
we have not had rain here at all the last month
april rain total was near zero
so much for april showers bring may flowers huh

this is a good time to burn those weeds as our days get
into the low 90s
just use an organic mixture of
1 gallon of 9% vinegar
1 oz of orange oil
1 oz of dishwashing liquid

mix and spray on your weeds
theyll look like this after a few days

the green weed was included as a control
after the weeds are dead pull them up
sometimes if they come back some just rezap them
with this organic weed killer

caution it is caustic to the skin
burns like heck if you accidentally spray it on yourself

the organicgreen doctor

its the way it is, weed resistance

ITS THE WAY IT IS

in a county near us a guys dog and a stray dog got together
and slaughtered the neighbors 12 chickens
the county has an ordinance that dogs that kill livestock have
to be euthanized
so the two dogs were both euthanized

so now the county is rethinking the ordinance

i have lived in three states and there is an unwritten understanding
that if your dog attacks someones livestock the dog will be shot
on site

in the area where i live if your dog did this it would be shot and
probably hung on the fence by the highway along with the coyotes
that have been shot
thats the way it is and we all understand it

if my two dogs went to my neighbors and killed his chickens or
other animals
i understand that they will probably shoot both of them
and i would not say a thing
if their dogs did that to my chickens i would get my old rifle out
if i could find the bullets and shoot the dogs myself
if it even worked
if not my neighbor would do it for me

its just understood that thats the way it is
i keep my dogs inside my property and even though i live in
the country i walk the dogs on a leash always
because i know the rule of the country

and i love animals and love my dogs and cats
but i also love my chickens

WEED RESISTANCE


bam bam
i hit those weeds yesterday morning with my organic mixture
of 10% vinegar, orange oil, and liquid soap
by 500 pm they were wilted and dead
no contamination of the water system with this stuff
and it works well

i sat down yesterday after working outside all day
what a great spring day (even though its winter)
opened my email
there was the weekly newsletter from the texas gardener

in tennesse the bluegrass state? some of the bluegrass seems to
have developed resistance to glycophosphate (roundup)
so that the stuff wont kill the weeds like it is suppose to
so far resistance hasnt been found in other weeds

does that mean they will be using higher concentration of
this stuff now to kill the weeds
more pollution of our rivers lakes and groundwater
we dont have enough water now as it is

maybe we dont have to have perfection in our lawns
or maybe we dont need all those lawns
landscape some of it away with native plants
and you dont have to use that glycophosphate stuff

maybe just maybe this could lead to people not using this stuff
hopefully they wont find some other chemicals to replace it

ill just keep using my organic recipe
1 gallon of pickling vinegar (9-10%)
1-2 oz of orange oil
1 tsp of liquid dishwashing soap

dont spray it on your skin or youll find out why it works so well

no resistance possible to this stuff
stay organic

the organicgreen doctor