George wrote:
We have quite a lot of ants in our garden. I've always thought of them
as benign, and just ignored them. But, earlier this year, a basil was
mysteriously cut off, right at ground level. Now, I see a collard
dying, with a great activity of small black ants right at the base of
the stem. It looks like they're attacking the plant.

Do ants do this? Is there a way to control them?

I don't know about outside, but I've found that those ant baits with
the channels for the ants to enter work great indoors. Every time I've
used them the ants were gone in a day, amazing... Might be worth a shot
outdoors as I see no real reason for it not to have some effect.
Otherwise find the ant hill and do something nasty to it, even boiling
water works.

Not a clue what damage the ants are really doing.

Jeff

Thanks,
George