Gardening with Nature by Elaine R. Ingham Ph.D. and Carole Ann Rollins, Ph.D.

These women are two of my heroes. Valuable information here in a tangible format. http://gardeningwithnature.net/About_the_Authors_QK.html

Fungi the Magnificent

Yesterday, I nudged through a debris pile in my garden. It contained begonia rootballs that I had pulled from a site after the last hard frost. Observing the new leaves on what had appeared completely dead plant matter was another opportunity for learning - begonias are toughies. As I unearthed the begonias planning to replant them at the site, I marveled at the mycelium, a fungal network of threadlike cells, that was evident.

The white threads visible here are the mycelium. Not only is fungus essential for the transfer of nutrients between the soils and plants, the health of plants and soils is enhanced by their presence.

In all installations of plants, we apply myccrrhizal spores to the root ball of the new plant. The product I use is produced by a friend and colleague, Carole Ann Rollins, Ph.D., at her company Nature Technologies http://www.nature-technologies.com/Mycorrhizae.html

My clients and crew laugh when I rush to them at a job site, holding gently a blob of soil held together by mycelium and giddy from the discovery. I often ponder whether I love more the fungi or the dung beetle for their importance to soil. Then realize it is like my children, animals, and tribe - I love them all, equally.

Peace. And fungi.

Jae