Hello from Palm Harbor, Fl

Greetings all,
I've been a member for a few weeks now, and have tremendously enjoyed all the posts I've read here. I'm looking forward to learning all sorts of new things about gardening. My DH and I recently purchased a home with a huge yard in need of much tender loving care. I've started a very small raised bed garden with only a few plants so far. A couple of tomato plants, a pepper plant, some rosemary, marigolds are all doing ok. The lavender I planted bit the dust fairly quickly, I think the poor things roasted in the heat. I'll try again once it cools off a bit. The yard itself is not too bad in the front, but pretty darn awful in the back. It is loaded with weeds, but at least they are green. :) The fire ants have had a field day here since the place was empty for a very long time. Any words of wisdom in dealing with the little pests would be greatly appreciated. I'm not to excited about using a lot of pesticides, are there any 'kinder gentler' ways to get rid of the little buggers?
Well, I just wanted to post a note to say hello and to introduce myself a bit. I'm looking forward to getting to know the Dave's garden folks as well.
Soooo much yard... so little time. : )

Hi! Welcome to Dave's Garden! I'm in Houston, so fire ants are a big concern for me, too. They haven't found my garden yet, but they are definitely in the neighborhood, so it's only a matter of time.. Here are a few threads I found that discuss various remedies/deterrents. I haven't tried any of them yet, so I can't vouch for anyone's suggestions. :-) I hope you find something that will help you!!

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/646036/
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/507925/
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/588191/
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/653267/

Missyfox, a big hello and welcome from the midwest! You will have a great time learning, growing and gardening. There are many other interesting venues at Dave's as well! You can really ask anything, there are so many knowledgeable folks willing to share and help you with any gardening issue and some non gardening as well!So dig in and have fun :0)

Thank you very much for the links Marylyn. I spent quite awhile reading those posts and I'm going to try some of the ideas to rid my yard of those pesky biters. I hope those ants miss your yard entirely, they are certainly unwelcome guests in our yard. I encourage all the lizards I meet up with in the garden to "chow down" on those nasty ants. We have LOTS of lizards! I hope they have HUGE appetites. : )
Thank you also, Garden6 for the warm welcome to the boards. I lived in Kansas for a fair number of years back in the 80's and early 90's. I lived in a little town southwest of Witchita. Clearwater, KS is a nice little burb outside of the city. I didn't do very much gardening there but my MIL had a huge garden with lots of great veggies. I've always wanted a garden of my own and now I have the space but am lacking the know-how. I'm hoping to find lots of that here and I'm amazed at the variety of different subjects that are availble on this site.

hello and welcome from upstate new york. enjoy yourself. hope the lizards eat those nasty ants.

Thank you for the welcome Herbie! Oh, my... Upstate New York! You must be enjoying the fall color change and the chill in the air already. We just had what they called a cold front... the temp dropped to 63 at night and we slept with the windows open! The very next day it was back to 92 degrees! So much for our cold front!

Fire Ants, try "Antidote" from Gulf Coast Biological" [In Texas}
It has little critters that attack the Ants, grubs,and Fleas, and any other insect that lives in the ground. --Welcome from Orange Springs, FL, ---Michael