Lynda Thornton wrote in news:ONkylABHFG5
:

I'm becoming convinced that the ants
(which are crawling everywhere this year) are damaging the roots. The
soil seems to be crawling with them if you dig into it. Is there
anything I can use to stop them?

More water. Ants prefer it dry, and tend to move their nest if you keep
watering it.

If there is something around there they really like the taste of and will
trek to find, that's different, but if they are just nesting, it's probably
just too dry. More water will encourage the plants too - it's more likely
to be the dryness that is damaging them than the ants.

Victoria