Fire Ant Foolishness

You know that show on TV. The one with that lady that goes to people's houses and helps them deal with their, "foolishness". You know, the show where she helps you "clean house". Yeah, that's the one. Well, I dare say she would venture inside the fire ant colony's house anytime soon. They would not only eat her, but the big flower in her hair as well.

If you are new to reading my blog, let me tell you a little secret. It's not a secret really. I hate fire ants with a passion! Fire ants are evil and bite you. If you are allergic to fire ants, you can die. For some reason, they have invaded the entire neighborhood (ok, countryside) where I grew up. Some people have an occasional hill or two of them. Some people have only heard people mention them but have never came in contact with the mean little boogers. I've had lots of up close and personal experience with these creatures. I also know for a fact that they love to eat potatoes, peas, and corn. I have documented proof of the potato issue.


Remember the post when I mentioned planting potatoes on potato hill? If my memory serves me correctly, we planted 24 fingerling potatoes. Guess what, the ants ate 14 of them. How do I know this? When only 10 of these guys came up, I dug around looking for the potatoes that didn't come up. This is what I found:

Look out you vile creatures- I'm going to give you a dose of borax and grits really soon

If you look closely- they are everywhere. They didn't like the fact that I was trying to "hill" the few remaining potato plants.

Ok, I have the fire ant name calling out of my system for now, at least.

On a happier garden note, 10 potato plants are doing well. I learned my lesson though. I should have planted those guys in a "ditch". That way, hilling them would have been easier. Eventually, I'm going to run out of dirt to hill them with since the fire ant colony has taken up residence on most of tator hill. I don't like digging in dirt that "bites" back. Anyway, I'll just have to see how much luck I have with the potatoes in the long run. I do know that I am going to plant some more potatoes- far away from potato/fire ant hill.