Let me get right to the point today. Yes, the rain is great! I needed it bad and I am not complaining, but I have heard from many of you about how to handle all the changes it is making both in the yard and the garden. So here are some of the frequent questions for the week.

Q. Why is my yard all of a sudden full of mushrooms?

As you drive around town you may see a large amount of mushrooms growing in places you have never seen before. The occurrence of these mushrooms is ideal with rainy and cooler temperatures that were preceded by weeks of hot dry weeks. This perfectly describes the last month in Adams and adjacent counties.

You may be one of the numerous citizens with these white mushrooms known as “green-spored Lepiota” growing in your yard. These mushrooms are a specific form of fungi that are in no way parasitic on any of the local turfgrass species and should not cause any disease and other problematic issues to your lawn.

They are usually most common in areas of high organic build-up like excessive thatch, buried sticks or limbs, or other organic debris. They are actually beneficial in the breakdown of these organic materials and recycling of beneficial nutrients. One of the oddities of mushrooms which appear in lawns is the fact they sometimes grow in arcs or circles. These are referred to as “fairy rings,” and the rings often appear in the same area of the lawn from year-to-year.

Now for a more important question, can you eat them? The safe answer is no! There are some forms of wild mushrooms that are edible, but there are also some that are extremely toxic, and when consumed even in small amounts can be extremely dangerous. The problem is they all look very similar and unless you are trained and proficient in mushroom identification then I would strongly suggest you continue to buy your mushrooms from the store.

Q. Is there anything I should be watching for with all this rain in my garden?

If any of you have pumpkins or melons planted, now is the time to watch out for fungal developments. Recent weather is great for both vine growth and fungus development. While the plant is growing rapidly most of its growth is dedicated to fruit growth not leaf maintenance so you may need to watch and be ready to apply a protective fungicide should fungus growth begin.

If you have tomatoes, peppers, beans or other garden plants be on the lookout for water wilt. This is most common in tomatoes planted in poorly drained soils after heavy rain showers like we have seen over the last week. When you have water wilted plants they start wilting from the top down over 8 -12 hours. If you have plants in an area that dries out well they may recover within a day or two. However if they are still suffering after a couple of days then the roots are probably beyond recuperation.

I also received some calls about tomatoes that are splitting open or appear to be cracking. “Cracking” is common with rainy weather when the plant begins to grow abnormally fast. The tomatoes usually crack up around the stem like a stretch mark where the most rapid growth occurs. There is not a lot you can do about this but some varieties are less susceptible to cracking.

David Carter is the director of the Adams County Extensions Service. He can be reached at 601-445-8201.