Is it useful to destroy ant nests? If yes, how?

There are hundreds of species of ants in France. They organize themselves into colonies which populate gardens and vegetable gardens. The best known is the black garden ant which builds its nest under bark or in the earth. An anthill can have more than 10,000 ants.

Ants, friends of the gardener...

Many gardeners are defenders of ants. Tireless tunnel boring machines, they dig galleries in the vegetable garden, thus aerating the earth. Hungry, they devour larvae and harmful insects such as flea beetles or slugs promoting the development of vegetables. They can also prove to be outstanding sowers by spreading salad seeds and others. In short, they are champions at cleaning up gardens. Their role also in pollination no longer needs to be demonstrated.

... but watch out for aphids!

Ants don’t only have good sides. Gourmettes, from your vegetable garden. One of them is to cultivate plants whose smell bothers the tireless worker. 

• Lavender, marjoram or sage are essences that repel ants. Likewise, protecting your plants by surrounding them with eggshell powder would prevent ants from encroaching on your flowerbeds! 
• Other natural repellents do the trick such as garlic, basil, coffee grounds which will divert them from their usual path. To prevent them from climbing on fruit trees, a ribbon of glue is unstoppable.

How to destroy an ant nest?

If you really have decided to destroy the nest because its location bothers you or because it damages your crops, then you can flood it with boiling water. Meticulous gardeners will be careful to kill only the queen. Eliminated, the colony will scatter.  

Another less radical method is to make it impractical by pouring salt and talc wetted in lukewarm water over it which will form a sort of pasty glue. Once free of the ants, your job is to prevent them from coming back... and this task may turn out to be quite complicated!