Warm, damp conditions encourage the problem so anything you can do to improve air circulation around the plants will help. Raising the developing fruits off the soil level will improve the situation too. In addition, when you water your courgettes, always try to direct the water straight at the base of the plant and away from the flowers and developing fruits. Flying ants Sitting in my garden one summer's day, I was amazed to see clouds of flying ants taking off from my lawn. My mother was horrified when I told her about them and said I should kill them, but I am not so sure.
Ants usually fly in the heat of a late summer's day.
It's a dramatic sight, watching the winged insects emerge from ants' nests all over the garden, and seeing the sunlight catching on their shimmering wings as they fly erratically upwards, high into the sky. When it happens in our garden, the swallows, house martins and swifts have a feast too, snapping up the flying ants by the hundred. But though dramatic, I do not believe this to be a threatening phenomenon. It is the mating flight, when sexually fertile ants take off to mate, and after a few hours on the wing, descend, shed their wings and return to terrestrial life. Ants are, on the whole, more beneficial than harmful, although too many can be a nuisance, and my reaction to the flight is to enjoy watching it and leave the creatures alone.