I'm Back

Although I may not have been sorely missed, I have been missing for a while. Where was I? Locked away in my shell. But I'm back now to show you some of the interesting things going on in my yard.

This is a wood wasp, also known as a horntail. You can see right under its abdomen the needle-like organ it is using to bore through the bark and into the solid wood, where it will lay a single egg, if it likes the spot that is. If the wasp finds the spot to be sub-par it will search for another spot to (easily) drill another hole. Then it will find more spots on the same and/or different trees to lay more individual eggs. The eggs hatch into larva that tunnel through the debilitated tree that the mother has carefully chosen. They continue to further damage the tree for around two years until finally pupating near the surface bark to easily emerge from tree as an adult.

On the same tree is a birdhouse with a house sparrow's second clutch of the season quickly growing. I noticed in previous years that no birds inhabited it until I decided to turn the house upside-down. I also modified the roof to facilitate the yearly cleanings that birdhouses require, but also so that I could peek in.

Unfortunately the smallest chick in the back may have been born last, causing its older siblings to gain a brief advantage making them stronger and more developed which further encourages the parents to prioritize feeding them.

This is a stinkhorn I found that sprung up in my yard. Despite the name, I did not smell anything. This looks like the fruiting body of the fungus Phallus impudicus. Its green goo is supposed to attract necrophagous flies. The goo, filled with spores, tricks flies into thinking they found a decomposing carcass by emitting similar smells to the real thing. The spores are even capable of being digested by flies and the like and the goo actually causes them to expel them rather soon and nearby. I didn't observe any flies and I actually believed the goo to be poisonous since certain ants that I dipped in it would soon die.

This is another mushroom I found, though not in my yard. This one and others were found on the edge of a mulch trail going through a restored wetland/marsh. I really liked the pattern of "scales" on the cap.

This is a lettuce plant I grew from a salvaged old stalk that was headed for the compost bin. I saw some potential in it and tore off some big old leaves and just placed the stump straight into my hanging planter (made from a fertilizer spreader that my neighbors discarded). The stump didn't even need to sit in water to root first before being planted. However, it is not producing foliage, just many yellow flower buds.

Speaking of compost, I have a new container for making it! Buckets can be used an I have been successful (once) but they don't hold much matter. I dumped my three buckets into the huge bin that was previously full of yard sale junk my mom was saving. Once I got a good look at all the contents and not just what was on top of the buckets I noticed I needed more brown material in the bin. Most of the pre-compost was green material: nitrogen-rich food and vegetable scraps, which are also high in water content. I needed more carbon-rich matter like dried leaves, thin wood shavings, even paper and cardboard. I was lucky enough to find a large garbage bag in my alley full of shredded paper! Just what I needed and already processed and ready to add. This dry material serves as a food source for the microcosm of life hard at work breaking down my food waste. It also does a good job of absorbing the excess water which is what makes compost putrefy sometimes and attract flies. The shredded paper also made my compost lighter and fluffier and the increased airflow is beneficial to the microenvironment. Healthy compost bins should have at least 3 times more brown matter than green matter but more than that is definitely better. Here it is one day after I added the paper.

I think it has been at least a week since then and the paper no longer stands out. I can't wait to add more. I feel like I'm doing a good deed every time I add matter to the bin. There is something rewarding about alternatively disposing of your waste somewhere where you know it's not going to landfill and that it will eventually feed my garden. It almost feels like having a large, low maintenance pet, too!
The next time I turn my compost I will show my tools that I made myself specifically for this task!
Thank you for reading about my backyard adventures! Until next time!