grow, marvel, eat, laugh, persevere

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Heat + Rain = Fungus

This is what it looks like to a bug. The last few nights have been really warm and rainy. Each morning I wake to a forest of mushrooms. They only come up in the south facing bed and by the time I get home from work they are gone. It makes me wonder what else goes on in my garden at night when I sleep. This looks like a mushroom village to me and I imagine that the fairies would love it.


This is very cool too. It's much taller than the other little ones.


See how glossy the top looks?

As cool as I think the mushroom village is, I know that this is a fungus and I imagine the spores under the woodchips infesting the roots of my beloved plants. Where does this stuff come from? I never had this pre woodchips. I wonder if I imported it in with the chips.

I love the rain because it keeps me from needing to water, but I'm over it. Bring on the sunshine! I've got planter boxes to make on Saturday!

4 comments:

  1. We used shredded redwood in our beds this year, and just like in the forest where mushrooms make their homes on decaying bits of wood, they have invaded the decaying mulch. I think it's just the natural wood decay thing that happens. The spores were probably already there laying in wait....!

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  2. I wonder if those lurking mushrooms could really hurt your plants. I've had mushrooms off and on in my containers and they don't seem to have done any harm. They sure are beautiful! Fantastic photography.

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  3. Don't worry about the mushrooms. They won't do any harm to your plants. And they don't infest the roots of plants. There are millions of different mushroom spores floating in the air most of the time and they settle everywhere. When conditions are just right they sprout overnight. Enjoy them while you can - as you see they are only there for a short while. We have many types of mushrooms growing in our woodchip mulch.

    Excellent photos - How did you get the bug to hold the camera?

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  4. katie - thanks for stopping by! i did not know that mushrooms went along with wood type mulches. i have so much to learn, still.

    heather - thanks for the encouraging words!

    alyssa - i actually laughed out loud about the bugs holding the camera. thanks for the info!

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