I have not found garlic very effective. I did grind up nasturtiums (the whole plants in some water, then strained it) and spray this on squash bugs and they died! I've heard ants hate cinnamon? The sugar and boric acid stuff will work, and ants take it into their colonies and they all get it on them. Maybe little bottlecaps with the mixture placed at the base of the plants will work - and replenish from a squeeze bottle when empty or rained out. This is not for a trap - it's a poison that they get on themselves and bring back to the colony - so I'm not sure about the post above saying it's a trap. And I use boric acid not borax - but maybe both work (borax is cheaper). You don't want borax or boric acid everywhere as it's harmful to plants in excess, but it's a plant nutrient in smaller amounts. One last one - tinfoil. Some insects hate tinfoil, and putting it around the bottoms of the plants could keep the ants from getting to their colonies and back, but not sure ants are foiled by it (could not help it).
