Ants in our pants

Our raised vegetable beds have served us well this year and with a number of them now empty we took the opportunity to carry out repairs.  Nearly ten years old, several of the timber edging and supporting pegs were starting to rot.  The sawmill conveniently provided us with timber cut to our exact requirements and it was a simple matter with drill and mallet to replace the old with the new.

During the installation, a number of red ant colonies objected to our interference and our first indication that they were present was some surprisingly painful bites to our arms and legs as they swarmed up our sleeves and trouser legs.  Under attack the wooden boards were speedily replaced and thankfully the angry ants slowly went back to their daily routine.

While in the vegetable garden we decided to clear one of the beds; our sweetcorn has done particularly well this year and was at the peak of ripeness and ready for picking this week.  Some will be eaten over the next few days and some will be frozen for use in the coming weeks. 

The lawns are still responding to the relatively mild weather and both the orchard and flower garden received a cut, but with clear nights and several particularly cold mornings over the last few days, maybe the end to this activity is not so far away.