Organic gardening

In my garden I am mostly organic. I generally try to stick with organic methods of fertilizing and pest control - but there are a couple of exceptions

Fire ants - The imported fire ants we have here in Texas are nasty critters. They have no natural predators. They are extremely aggressive when disturbed - swarming to overcome the invader (i.e. me) and inflicting nasty bites which swell and itch. Their unsightly nests, if left untreated, can reach the size of a garbage can lid.

The only effective way I've been able to deal with fire ants in my yard is to use Amdro or other similar bait - applied directly to and around the mound. The problem with fire ants is that a colony can have literally thousands of queens - so you have to kill all of them, or the colony will simply rebuild. Although, if you disturb their mound enough (such as mowing over it), they will swarm and relocate the colony.

A few times I've found fire ant nest around my pond in the back yard. I am very careful about using chemicals around the pond (don't want to kill the fish) - so, for these, I've resorted to more brute force methods. I put several pans on the stove to boil water - and then pour the boiling water directly on the mound. This causes the ants to swarm out and die in a ring around the mound. I find it strangely satisfying watching them writhe in agony. But, this method is far too labor intensive to be used as a general remedy.

Weeds - Weeds are just a fact of life in gardening. Mulch is the best way I've found to control weeds. Deprive them of light and they will eventually die. In the fall, I use the leaves I rake up as mulch around the yard. But, mulching is not always an option - for example, weeds in the path and/or cracks in the driveway. For these, I will resort to an herbicide, like Roundup, to spot treat.

So, I do have a couple of things I use which would cause a die hard organic gardener to label me an organic heathen - but I justify myself in that I only resort to chemicals to spot treat affected areas - I do not broadcast chemicals all over my yard.