Fungal activity in the garden is almost always a good thing because it helps to recycle nutrients, and my impoverished soil needs all the help it can get. I am very poor at identifying mushrooms and their companions, so much of the time I don’t even try.
One day in late April 2026, I happened to notice a couple of new mushrooms at the base of my young Kidneywood plant.
That led me to wonder what else was on display that day. I found some long-standing specimens, but also some things I hadn’t seen before.
On one side of the garden there is a collection of pecan logs.
On one of the cut surfaces there is a white growth that is present all the time.
There is also a striped “shelf” fungus that seems to be a permanent installation.
On this day I also saw another fungus that I hadn’t noticed before. Compared to the one above, this one grows in a perpendicular direction relative to the bark. It is emerging from natural longitudinal cracks in the bark.
Moving away from the pecan logs I went to look at the original wood pile (made up of mesquite logs and tree limbs) and saw the bright orange Scaly Rustgill (Gymnopilus sapineus), which I first noticed last year.
I didn’t do a thorough inspection of the whole garden but to find all these examples quickly is a good sign that there’s a diversity of fungal activity. I hope that there is even more happening unseen, and especially in the soil.
Rewilding My Lot 
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