#Anyways if anyone reads this youre cool as hell and probably a Fung-

[pansy-buttercups]

MUSHROOMS IN THE GARDEN BED🍄

(Garden Tips Tuesday #1)

🙘✦🙙🙘✦🙙🙘✦🙙🙘✦🙙🙘✦🙙🙘✦🙙🙘✦🙙🙘✦🙙🙘✦🙙🙘✦🙙

Ft. This little guy in my starter tray <3

First off if you find a mushroom in your garden beds or containers, DONT FREAK OUT! No you didn't do anything wrong, and nothing bad is going on. I think a lot of gardeners that just started out panic at the sight of a capped stalk in their beds because they think it means their soil is messed up or that mushroom will make their plants ill. That was definitely my first reaction a couple years ago the first time a mushroom popped up in one of my containers. Mushrooms and Fungi however are actually a good sign (Normally)!!

What are mushrooms and what do they mean????

Mushrooms and Fungi while not being plants have a couple similar system. Fungi are often complex systems that can span for miles underground in a fine delicate networks called mycelium. These systems can go hundreds of years underground, but only sprout their fruiting bodies (which we call mushrooms) when conditions are right for them to emerge.

And these conditions that make it right for mushrooms to pop out also makes it the right condition for your plants usually. Mushrooms thrive on humidity, moisture, shade, but most importantly decaying organic matter in your soil. Mushrooms help break down the matter in your soil and help make it more accessible for your plants! They are also useful in remedying soil of contaminates, such as oil, heavy metals, pesticides and apparently even bits of radioactive waste. Here's an article that goes way more in depth on how mushrooms are used in land restoration projects:

The relationship between Fungi and Plants:

Finally this is less of a gardening thing and more of an environmental thing, however it still applies. Fungi and plants often share the same ecosystem, and beyond that some share resources too! Why? Simply because they both have something the other needs. Mycelium as previously mentioned breaks down organic matter using enzymes into usable nutrients for themselves. The kind that breaks down dead organic matter for their own use are called Saprophytic fungi and are responsible for recycling our dead organisms. There are however fungi called mycorrhizal fungi that do not live by this method and instead thrive on their symbiotic relationship with plants. Plants have one very important thing the fungi requires which is the sugars they produce through photosynthesis, and the plants require the complex nutrients that only fungi can give them. So the mycelium colonizes the tips of the plants roots and they pass resources back and forth, however mycelium sprawl and connect to other plants meaning these resources also get shared between plants. This also them help keep the balance between an ecosystem by sharing the nutrients of healthier plants to those that are struggling. The large network that communicates nutrients, moisture, and even chemical signals between plants and mycelium is referred to as a mycorrhizal network.

The dozen threats to the network:

The mycelium network however is very delicate often, and human activity often poses a threat to these important fragile systems. There is no short list of threats to mushrooms listing from the already harmful herbicides, fungicides, certain fertilizers, to logging which is a major detriment due to the compaction from both heavy machine and foot traffic and from the damage that comes with removing the stumps. There is however one thing a lot of gardeners do that often damage mycelium networks and that is tilling soil! Along with disrupting the network tilling already has a dozen problems it causes (Which ill probably be writing about as well in a later post). All of these things can lead to the rapidly decay of a proper mycelium network which can sudden cause harm to surrounding plants and trees that relied on them.

How to be a mutual friend to the Mycelium! :

There are however a lot of things you can also do to help promote your fungal friends! Try to avoiding disrupting the soil in your garden as much as much as possible, and looking into no-till alternatives! Leave out lots of organic matter such as fallen leaves, fallen logs, bark, straw, hay, woodchips, basically anything organic and dead. I believe the organic matter my mushroom in the starter tray liked was the coco coir which is also common mushroom cultivation substrate. Fungi also heavily appreciate humidity and shade so make sure to keep the soil around any mushrooms that pop up a fair bit damp. Lastly when you're not gardening and instead out hiking perhaps try to stay on the path to avoid compacting the earth over where precious mycelium is keeping the environment balanced and thriving!

So next time you see a mushroom pop out in your garden be sure to give it a little thank you for keeping the soil nice and helping your plants :)

[whiskey-and-nightmares]

Hey I saw in a post you said your like Guan/Jack? Could you write a small drabble / one shot of them? They sound so interesting together !!!! Ty ily

    ◈ — @ anon  || Request accepted !

    Of course anon!!  I love crack ships, that’s my gift, my curse… And I love you too

    For this ship I have, the timeline is settled on the idea of Jack turning out to be the dragon of metal.     Kinda.

It wasn’t like if he hated the idea, no, but it wasn’t nice to suddenly have your life turned 180 degrees.

Jack wasn’t a control freak at all, but he was a mechanic, engineer, artist, scientist… Things needed a certain structure in order to work properly. Even biology worked like that, universe worked like that, hell, you can’t harvest apples without planting an apple tree first! 

Oh god, no, there were cowboy’s bad influence and his peasant references.

Raimundo warned him about them and how easy was to get them stuck in your head after a while… He also warned him about Guan. Well, everybody did.

Even Jack, being a Heylin enthusiastic, knew about Master Monk Guan. But the monk’s references about him weren’t the ones he was expecting for, well, a monk; Guan was strong, skillful, precise and tough. Tough enough to seem evil.

It was because of those rumors that Jack was confused about the Guan he meet months ago.

Master Fung sent him to train with Guan after a lot of meditation, probably deciding was better for Jack to learn away from the other dragons, without the pressure of having to see how advanced they all were in comparation to him.

Also, there was the fact that Jack was a complete failure in everything related to martial arts and was obvious he needed some, focused attention in order to catch up with the others… World was dying, again, and they needed his help… Jack coudln’t turn his back, not now, he needed a world to rule it after all.

“Not like that. Your leg goes up –the other one Jack– yes, just like that. Again.”

And it was because of that that he was there, training with Guan. And it was also because of that that he was really confused about this Guan.

He expected to be woken up at three in the morning (like Kimiko said) with cold water and screams (like Pedrosa said) and train until he passed out of exhaustion and dehydration (like the cowboy said). But instead of that he found himself with a strict, yes, but surprising kind master monk.

For whatever reason Guan seemed to recognize his limits and didn’t push him beyond them until they knew he was ready.

He also gave him a bit more of freedom, let him wander around, offered to hear whatever Jack had to say without judging him, offering advice but mostly, just giving him the chance to vent to him. He also seemed interested in his skills with technology and wasn’t afraid of asking questions and praise his ability for all the things that Jack knew he was good at.

It was, refreshing. Exciting… Wonderful.

To know someone valued him for what he was, who he was, instead for how many kicks he could give in a single jump.

“How it was you decided to help the monks to save the world? ”

Jack’s eyes narrowed, remembering the events that happened after Chase took Omi and turned him into a warrior cat… To ditch Jack after that without a second thought.

“They needed me… They looked for the lost dragons, and that thing they used pointed at me… They need me to save the world and, you know, if I want to rule the world then I need it to be nice and ready to conquer.”

Guan smiled and serve them both tea. Night was clear and cool, stars were twinkling in the sky and the monk said that, even if he didn’t agree with Jack’s idea of world domination, was sure he was capable of that and more. Jack’s heart skipped a beat at the honesty behind those words.

“Why did you decide to train me anyway? I know Fung asked you if you wanted me but it wasn’t like he forced you to accept.”

“I saw your potential. You are a late bloomer, is obvious, but your potential is as big as the night sky.” Jack felt his cheeks flush and snorted.

“C'mon, I’m not that good.”

“Not yet, but you could be, with time.”

“But time is something we don’t have.”

Jack knew it, he heard it from Fung, Dojo and older monks, even Guan said it at some point, but Jack knew it too. He was a genius after all, a scientist. If there was something he was good at, was at reading numbers and analyzing data… And the information they had about Chase’s advances wasn’t encouraging at all.

“Chase was your idol, isn’t? ”

“Yeah… He was.”

“He was my friend once.” Jack tried to sip his tea but still was too hot for his tongue. Guan took it from his hands and blew on his cup to cool it. “… I’m sure you knew that.”

“I read about it in the Temple scrolls. In the books that tell the legend of Chase Young there isn’t a single mention of you, or Dashi.”

“Yes… It’s better like that.” Guan handed him back the cup and smiled at him, Jack smiled back, feeling a subtle something growing up between them at light speed. “Isn’t? ”

“The tea or the lack of references about you from his side of the history? ”

“You are too smart Jack Spicer.”

“Thanks. I’m pretty proud of that.” Guan laughed and looked up, to the sky; Was getting late and Jack was sure he was going to be sent to bed as soon as they ran out of tea.

“You remind me of him.” Jack almost spit his tea and Guan patted his back. “In a way… So much potential, a clear inclination to the dark side…”

“You knew Chase was going Heylin? ”

“No, no… Not like that. But you both have that in common, a clear tendency for troubles… We pushed him too much.”

“So you feel guilty about it and took me in to fix your guilt fixation? ” Guan laughed again.

“No, all that is in the past now. But when I saw you, I saw the potential, the mischief, and I knew I could help you better than anyone else. Because I dealt with someone like you before.” Jack decided he didn’t know how to feel about that revelation, at the same time, decided that Guan’s hand, still on his back, felt nice and warm enough to stay out there all night. “… Does that bother you? ”

“ —Not sure… I mean, is the first time someone compares me with a cool dude. That is also a jerk… A cool jerk.”

“If helps it, I believe you can surpass him without problem. There is something you have that many other people lacks…”

Jack looked up, at the strong jaw and the wide shoulders and wondered how would be to wrap his arms around them… Wild thought but, hey, they were in the middle of a war, he was allowed to have wild dreams.

“Unfounded overconfidence? ”

“Persistence and creativity. You don’t give up, and always find a way to succeed. With your intelligence at our side, we will solve this problem soon.“

Jack’s face lighted up like a lighthouse in the dark and they continued drinking the tea until, as he thought, Guan said was time to rest.

“… You asked me if Chase was my idol, right? ” Guan nodded, gathering the cups. “I used to— I used to have this huge crush on him… A bad one…”

“Chase is indeed an attractive person. He always were. Sometimes we wondered how it was that a monk like us could be so beautiful… There is no shame in that. Do you want to know how to grow out of it? ”

“No, I mean, I used to, not anymore. Not after— But I did.”

“Many others did, and many more will do, don’t torment yourself for it.” Jack looked at the temple, to the dark corridor that would take him to his room.

“Yeah, don’t worry, I won’t… But I think I got another crush…” Guan stood up and Jack followed, dusting off his pants.

“Is a sign that you are a healthy young man.” The monk congratulated him with a kind smile. “… May I know who’s the lucky one? ”

Jack shrugged and patted the monk’s strong arm, an excellent excuse to touch the muscles that he hoped wrapped him some day.

“Yeah, sure. You know him pretty well I think. I mean, there’s a ton of statues of him all over the temple.“ Guan’s expression changed so fast that Jack recognize every single one of them; surprise, shock, confusion, embarrassment… It was funny, in a way. On other hand, was terrifying to say something like that face to face. ”… So, see you tomorrow then.”

Guan didn’t say anything, nor followed him after that, but before turning to take the corridor that would take him to his room Jack turned and saw him there, still in the same place, following with his eyes. The monk nodded at him and Jack thought that maybe, maybe, something good could happen to him for once.