Oh yuck

Walking around the yard the other day I came upon this strange gooey substance on my lawn. My first thought was that some small animal had been decomposing on my lawn after being dropped from one of the nearby palm trees by a crow. Then I thought it may be cat barf, but there was too much of it. And I don't have a dog, so ...

I kicked it with my shoe a little.

It broke open a little bit, like it was dry inside but squishy on top.

Looking around, there were a few more nearby. Some were dried out completely.

Or looked more like mushrooms.

Except that they were growing right on top of the grass.

Underneath the first one, the grass was a little black, covered in spores.











Searching online a bit, I found that it's called a slime mold (Fuligo septica). AKA dog-vomit mold. A number of (fan)sites are devoted to it!

My molds were all in the later stages of growth, having already somewhat dried and hardened.

Apparently it is harmless to the lawn, but it certainly was a shocking sight. Maybe one more reason to get rid of a water-guzzling lawn?!

Have you ever seen this?

It's Tomato Heaven upstairs

Not long now and there will be some ripe tomatoes on some of the five tomato plants I have growing on my balcony! Counting back, probably Early Girl will be red and ready around April 15.

So far the plants remain pest free, the only difficulty is watering. Every morning, I've got to run upstairs and downstairs tying a string around a hose by a downstairs spigot, hauling it 20 feet up over the balcony wall and then turning it on to water. Soon I will have to do that twice a day to keep the tomatoes from drying out.

It's going to be worth it.