"Flossie" wrote in message
...
Hello, Im hoping you can give me some advice.

I have a rose garden in my front yard, the roses have never really taken
off
so I have decided to transplant them somewhere else and turn the garden
into
a lovely display of bulbs. Anyway, today I took out the roses and made a
garden out the back for them but I think I discovered the reason they
never
did real well. The dirt in that garden bed is absoloutely infested with
very small ants. It almost looked as though the dirt was moving, there
were
so many of them. Im assuming they were eating the roses' root system as
their roots were very stunted. Anyway, rather than plant my bulbs and
hope
for the best I thought I would seek some advice first.

The ants seem to be running rampant here too.
Not sure why. One suggestion was the excessively wet gound around here has
brought them to the surface. I would have thought that would be the
opposite, and the recent (and current) rain would drive them deeper.
Who knows?

I have plans to improve the soil quality, I have a load of good quality
dirt
to which I will be adding compost mixed with blood and bone. I also have
NPK Blue as I have been told that once the bulbs sprout that they like
that.

I haven't had much experience with bulbs, but be careful with the dose of
Blood and Bone. Don't use a great deal yet, making sure it's mixed in well.

BUT... my question is this... how do I get rid of the ants?? If I
sprinkle
ant dust in the dirt will this hurt the bulbs I intend to plant??? Also,
will the ant dust be affected by watering??

The ant dust won't affect the bulbs. Watering may affect the dust, but all
that probably means is that re-application of it.
The dust is probably the best to use. There are sprays, including the same
stuff that is used for Army Worm, Lawn grubs etc. That should not affect the
bulbs, but it's pretty toxic, and could kill worms, but not sure.

Good luck

--
Remove "not" from start of email address to reply

Im really wanting to get started on the garden bed ASAP so I am really
hoping someone has some experience with a similar problem.

ALL advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Flossie (south west WA)