Ah geez just when things seemed to be going so well…
Absolutely gorgeous day, feeling on top of the world, humming to myself as I putter around my plants, lalalala… wait! What’s this?! ANTS! Tons of them! Everywhere! Eek!
And what do you suppose there are all crawling on?
My beloved zucchini!!! Grrr!
~
I decided to dig around a bit deeper to try and check to see just what the heck they are doing crawling all over my zucchini and noticed it’s mostly on, in, and around the blossoms.
But yeah, no idea what they are doing or why…
~
So I go to my laptop and start looking stuff up on the Internet. Conflicting information. Something that I didn’t know ~ ants are good pollinators. Really? I’ve never heard that before. Hmm. So does that mean it’s good that they are on my zucchini? Something about that doesn’t sound quite right to me.
Something I did already know ~ ants are a sort of aphid farmer, but when I looked around I didn’t see any aphids on my zucchini.
But I did find some on my lettuce…
Looks like whole families congregating and attempting to suck the life out of my lettuce!
And sure enough… there were ants on my lettuce too. Lots of them…
Yeah, lets have us a salad shall we? A salad of ants and aphids = YUCK!
~
I viciously sprayed them with the water hose immediately after taking these photos. Not the right time of day for it, but there was no way I was going to let those ants and aphids just have their way with my plants for even one moment longer!
So now I need to decide what if any other actions to take. I have my garlic pepper spray, but I don’t know if that will work. Guess it won’t hurt to try. I am open to any and all suggestions anyone might have…
On the bright side, I found my first cucumber! It’s so tiny and cute!
And somewhat alien looking. 😉
And there are lots of little curly tendrils developing for them to grab onto the trellis as they grow… 
Is it too early to start hoping for enough cukes for pickles? 🙂
Hope is always a good thing!
I also hope I win this battle in the attack of the ants and the aphids…
~Gardening is my therapy~
Ramblings From Jewels 
Good luck with your veggies!
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Thanks Laurie!
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I wish I had some handy tip for you regarding the ants, but alas…I am a “winging it” sort of gardener who crosses her fingers and hopes for the best.
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Haha! Hey, wishing and crossing your fingers counts for something ~ I’ve been gardening for 20 years and I’m still “winging it” myself! 😉 Thanks for stopping by and for the comment Kerry, it’s much appreciated!
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Good morning~ 🙂
Had lots of wild stuff going on here since Friday~broken pipes~fixed with a back hoe outside our kitchen window~
Fridge broken completely~this is when I am happy we rent~land lady fixed everything & we got a brand new fridge from this century! lol
Sorry about your plants Jewels~as I said we went through the exact same thing when we moved into this duplex 8 yrs ago~we quickly found out what was the easier to grow~the birds & froggies are a great help in keeping buggies population down. Our trumpet vine’s flowers has ants crawling all over it all the time~found that out when I tried to bring some in~ 😛
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Good morning Patty 🙂 Wow sounds like quite a bit going on there indeed! I know what you mean about renting, I’ve always owned my own home, but now that I rent I certainly see the conveniences and benefits in having someone else foot the bill when things break down. However, my daughter and I are going to be moving in with my mom in the fall and unlike my other houses, this one isn’t new and we are already planning and arranging our finances to update and fix a few things around there. Kind of exciting, but daunting at the same time. Especially because we’re all women ~ a handyman (preferably an attractive one ;)) sure would come in handy in the upcoming months.
So far I didn’t notice any “damage” the ants were doing, but I definitely need to keep an eye on it because a lot can happen in a garden from one day to the next…
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Good luck with your ants! The bugs seem to be everywhere! A good year for them.
That will be great moving in with your Mom! Now you will be just a few steps away! My Mom moved in with us over a year ago, and we are so happy she did. I thought it would be a major adjustment for all of us, so far, we are still having a great time of it!
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Thanks, I still have investigate further as what to do about them. I think the aphids are more of a concern. Although I didn’t see any on my zucchini, there are lots of leaves and I didn’t check them all. So gross on my lettuce. 😦
It’s encouraging to hear how well it is going with your mom moving in, as I am anticipating major adjustments for all of us. We are very close, but I still have concerns about actually living together again after all these years. I am confident however, that this is something that we are supposed to do at this time, so I just gotta trust that it will all work out. 🙂
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Yikes! Seems like you and your garden just can’t catch a break 😦 I hope you can find some way of keeping these pests at bay, Julie! I think it’s cool that you and your daughter will be moving in with your mom, too. And if we lived up there I would happily stop by to see if I could fix things for you!
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I know… dang bugs! How totally gross looking is that lettuce with ants crawling all over it? Not real appetizing.
Thanks, Simon I know you would, and I appreciate that. 🙂 I have a feeling that I’m going to be learning quite a few new things/skills in the upcoming months in updating/remodeling my mom’s place. One of the first being… how to pull up carpeting. Not looking forward to the physical labor of that undertaking with my bad knees, and I don’t really even know if I’ll even be able to do it, but I’m gonna give it my best shot. I’ll probably blog about it. 😉
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Good morning Jewels~hope you are doing fine honey~
Hope you get great news soon~
love & hugs~Patty & Allan & da Pussycats~ 😛
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Good morning Patty, thanks. Hope y’all are doing fine too! 🙂
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