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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Katie Williams

Mrs Hinch fans share how to get rid of garden ants just using icing sugar

As we head into Spring - although you wouldn't know it with the snow and hail we've had - it will soon be time to take care of the garden.

And one thing that comes with gardens are the annoying ants.

But Mrs Hinch fans have found a cheap and easy solution with something you'll probably already have in your cupboards.

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Sophie Hinchcliffe, also known as Mrs Hinch, rose to fame after sharing her cleaning, storage and gardening tips on Instagram and has since written a book and launched her own homeware range in supermarket giant Tesco.

After gaining over 4 million followers, thousands of house-proud Hinch fans have joined cleaning groups that honour the entrepreneur and share cleaning and gardening tips.

One woman posted on Facebook group Mrs Hinch Gardening Tips, sharing that she has an ant problem. She wrote: "HELP! My whole garden has been infested with ants. I don't mean a few, they have almost taken over!!! I have a large garden (1/3 acre) and have tried so many organic answers but they just get worse. Even walking on the grass and standing for a minute or two leaves you covered with ants. Has anyone got any ideas?"

The post gained nearly 80 comments with people sharing their tips.

One solution that re-occurred was using a simple trick just using two ingredients.

Susan commented: "Equal quantities of bicarbonate of soda and icing sugar. Put in shallow containers such as the lids off gravy granules and leave them next to the areas affected."

She added: "It always works for me and is non toxic and very cheap."

"Borax with icing sugar was the only thing that worked for me.", Sarah added.

And June agreed: "Mix bicarbonate with icing sugar and sprinkle it around and take it to nest and it kills them all."

"Yes icing sugar and baking soda worked for me too. Make sure to top it up everyday", Alison advised.

While others commented using boiling water or pest killer, Helen interjected: "There's no need to use harmful chemicals Liz. The natural solutions here will work fine whilst not posing a risk to the health of you & your family, nor to other wildlife in your garden."

While the icing sugar attracts the ants, the baking soda kills ants by drying out their bodies and disrupting their natural chemistry.

Other Hinch fans suggested using any type of powder, one added Diatomaceous earth, a beer bottle and turmeric.

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