Tag Archives: Tikorangi: The Jury garden

Garden Lore

“America owes its 200 million starlings to the American Acclimatization Society which, under the chairmanship of New York pharmacist Eugene Schieffelin (eccentric or nutcase depending on your opinion), set out to introduce to America every bird species mentioned in the plays of Shakespeare. Shakespeare makes about 600 mentions of 50 different birds in his plays…. and starlings appear only once, in Henry IV, Part 1…. but it was enough to get 100 starlings released in Central Park, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Ken Thompson Where Do Camels Belong? (2014)

Armillaria hinnulea – one of three species we have in NZ (photo Wiki Commons)

Garden lore: armillaria

In last week’s column, I said that few fungi will kill their host. Unfortunately one that can and does is the pesky armillaria. Generally this starts on dead wood but has an alarming capacity to spread below ground and take hold on perfectly good, growing plants. Armillaria is the main problem with cutting off woody plants and leaving the stump and roots where they are in the ground. If this fungus turns up as part of the decomposition process, you run the risk of it attacking the healthy plants around and once it has taken hold, you usually have to let it run its course over the next few years. It has been a significant problem in kiwifruit orchards where internal shelter has been taken out and stumps left behind.

Sometimes it is possible to get a stump grinder in or to manually dig out stumps. In other situations, we have to risk it and leave stumps to rot naturally. We appear to have three different types of armillaria in this country. These mushrooms develop a distinctive skirt on their stems below their caps, but by the time you identify that, the fungus has taken hold. The caps we see on top are little like the tip of the iceberg. It is the capacity to spread below ground that makes control very difficult, with long tenatacles called rhizomorphs. These are often described as looking like bootlaces, hence the term bootlace fungus. On the bright side, armillaria is apparently edible.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

The fascination of fungi

A parasol mushroom, though not, I think, the popular edible shaggy parasol

Fungi are very curious growths. Each autumn I find myself taking a few more photos of exotic looking fungi and wishing I knew more about them. It turns out that there is a whole lot to know about them – the potential for a lifetime of study, even. I lack the rigour let alone sufficient years ahead so I have to make do with random facts.

We have a culturally instilled fear of odd fungi in this country – anything other than field mushrooms really – and this even has a name: mycophobia. This may come from our predominantly British forbears although, curiously, it appears that the traditional Maori diet did not include fungi as a staple food. I even found an article which talked about “the new science of ethnomycology” which, lest you wonder, is the study of attitudes of different ethnic groups to mushrooms. Apparently the Russians are the greatest mycophages or lovers of mushrooms and they recognise over 90 different edible wild varieties*. If we lived in France, we would be able to pop along to our local pharmacist to have our foraged fungi identified but such expertise is rare indeed in our country and foraging is actively discouraged.

We have no idea of the name of this delicate fungal growth in the base of a pine cone

In fact very few wild fungi are scarily toxic. We have the death cap mushroom in this country but it is quite rare. That said, it has been recorded beneath oaks and chestnuts in both Hamilton and Cambridge. You have been warned! Amanita phalloides is common in Europe in their woodlands and even very small quantities are deadly. Apparently it smells quite sweet and can be confused with the straw mushroom which is widely harvested in Asia.

The story book scarlet flycap mushroom

However the scarlet flycap or fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) is relatively common and we have it in our own garden here. It is one to be cautious around, certainly with children, because it has been immortalised in all sorts of ways from Alice in Wonderland to gnome gardens. My understanding of toxicology is nil but I suspect the hallucinogenic varieties are often categorised with the toxic ones. Certainly this one is hallucinogenic, as a number of fungi are. It may be toxic as well, though as its use has been traced back to Ancient Greece, it doesn’t seem to be fatal. The consumption of hallucinogenic mushrooms has a rich history through many cultures and religions and there are suggestions that controlled usage may have been a factor in some well-recorded religious visions.

The scarlet flycap is not what is commonly referred to as the Magic Mushroom in this country (it is much more anonymous in appearance) but I am not going to go into details on that one. The banning this week of synthetic highs may see a return to wild collections, with all the inherent risks.

I thought I had photographed the wood-ear jelly fungus (Auricularia cornea) but I couldn’t find it. It is a flabby grey affair, a bit like bull kelp in appearance and was the source of a thriving export industry to China, back in the 1800s. I think it is safe to assume that one is both easy to identify accurately and edible but I admit I haven’t tried it yet.

Common-basket stinkhorn (Ileodictyon cibarium)

Given that I buy dehydrated fungi of both European and Asian origin for use in cooking, maybe it is time I overcame my cultural mycophobia and set about learning which ones are edible in my environment. Instead, I just enjoy looking at the brief appearances of a host of different fungi around the garden, most here being related to the entirely natural process of the eco-system and the cycles of nature. Just as very few are deadly poisonous, few too are those so pathogenic that they will kill their hosts. Most are beneficial and some are highly decorative.

No wonder Alice declared matters becoming “curiouser and curiouser” after nibbling on the scarlet flycap mushroom. It applies equally to the fascinating wider world of fungi.

A bracket fungus, though which one we do not know

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Plant Collector: Nerine pudica

Nerine pudica

How pretty is little pudica? This is the first season I have seen it flower and it is a delight. The pointed bells are mainly white with a pink stripe down the centre of each petal and each stem has up to six flowers on it. It is a nerine which makes it a bulb, but it is a much smaller one than the more common sarniensis and bowdenii types. The foliage is also much finer and narrower. It looks more a mondo grass or liriope leaf.

N. pudica is a species, hailing from the western side of South Africa. The ever-useful reference “Bulbs for NZ Gardeners and Collectors” by Terry Hatch and Jack Hobbs tells me that it is one of the original parents of many of the modern hybrids. While showy hybrids have their place, there is often a simple charm in the original species. The ones in the photograph are still in pots. It will take several years before we can comment on how reliable they are as garden plants in the rockery but the requirements are the same as for other nerines – excellent drainage and full sun. I am hoping they will do well because it makes a pretty addition to the autumn bulb display.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Garden Lore Friday 25 April, 2014

“It is something of an urban myth that a worm will be perfectly happy if you cut it in half. It may continue to wriggle for a while (so would you after you had been shot or stabbed) but it will die not long afterwards. Only if you nip off just a little of its tail end does it have the capacity to repair itself.”

The Curious Gardener’s Almanac by Niall Edworthy (2006)

048 Garden Lore

Today’s Lore is brought to you from an intensely irritated husband here who despairs at the ongoing affectation of referring to “worm wees” and “worm poos”. We are not juveniles struggling with potty training though I guess we should perhaps be grateful that we have not yet descended so low as to talk about worm “number ones” and “number twos”. Worms do not urinate and defecate in the same way as humans. Perish the thought, we would not want to put our hands in the soil. What worms produce is correctly referred to as vermicasts or worm casts. They pass the soil and decaying vegetation through their gut and in so doing aerate the soil, create better drainage and make the nutrients more accessible to living plants. The resulting vermicasts are rich in accessible potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen. Can we cast out the baby talk now that we grown up gardeners? Please.

Sydney daughter lives in a local authority zone that, in return for attendance at a free half day course, supplies free of charge to inner city residents either a worm farm or a compost bin. The choice is dependent on what best suits the individual’s circumstances. It seems an innovative initiative to tackle the huge problem of urban household green waste. I have not heard of local authorities following suit in this country.

First published in the Waikato Times and reprinted here with their permission.

Outdoor Classroom: Sowing seed in trays

1) Sowing seed should save you money, especially with vegetables and annuals and it is also the way of getting plants which may not be available otherwise – such as dwarf daffodils, English snowdrops or rhododendron species. We use polystyrene mushroom trays which we have been continuing to use for up to 20 years. Wooden or plastic trays can also be used but you need around 10cm in depth and plenty of drainage holes. Egg cartons can be used for quick turn around crops such as lettuce or peas. You can also reuse the punnets that come from garden centres. Mark likes small individual pots for vegetables.
2) It is preferable to use proper seed raising mix which has less fertiliser in it than potting mix because fertiliser can burn young plants. These mixes are sterile, so you know when you see shoots that it is your seeds germinating. You can use garden soil if you want to but coarsely sieve it first to get rid of larger lumps and you need some fine sand or similar to sprinkle over the seeds on top. A home made sieve is fine. You can’t use unwashed beach sand because plants don’t like salt. A bag of seed raising mix is easier and goes a long way so is not expensive.
3) When filling with mix, tamp it down to get rid of air bubbles by pressing on top of the tray. If you are using egg cartons or individual cells, sharply rap the container on a hard surface to get the mix settling further. However, if you are using garden soil, don’t compact it.
4) Large seed can be hand placed but fine seed is traditionally tapped out of the hand as shown in the photograph or dispersed in small quantities from a piece of folded paper. It can also be dispersed by pinching it between fingers like salt.
5) Spread a thin layer of mix on top of the seeds. The smaller the seed, the lighter the covering but almost all seeds need a complete cover (primulas and rhododendrons are an exception. These are surface sown – ie not covered). Water carefully. A misting bottle (a well-washed window or shower cleaner bottle with a pump spray) is ideal for fine seed. A watering can with a fine rose to disperse the water is also good. Don’t flood the seeds.
6) Label the tray. We favour a soft pencil and hard plastic labels which we scrub and reuse for years. Pencil lasts longer than marker pen and is easier to clean for reuse. Precious, fine seed can then be covered with a protective sheet of glass. Stretched plastic can also be used. Until seeds germinate, place the seed trays out of direct sunlight and in good light. It is usually wise to elevate the seed trays away from slugs and snails or cats who think it is a litter box. Check your seed tray daily for moisture levels but do not scratch around looking to see what is happening. When the seeds have germinated, move the tray to sunny conditions and increase the watering as required.