Slime Mold Invades

 
You may have noticed a patch or two of these odd looking guys in your mulch. Slime molds get there name from the fact that they may look slimey or as if they are oozing when they are wet. They come in many shapes and sizes, but in our area we mostly see brown or yellow blobs similar to the picture. If you disturb them a brown powder (spores) blow up and can be messy.
Slime molds thrive in wet humid conditions and actually feed on decaying plant material (mulch.) It can be seen in the lawn but seems to be a regular problem in the mulch beds. It is pretty much a harmless organism that can be looked at as an eyesore, or a speciman piece for your garden. For most of us it probably falls into the eyesore catagory. The most efficient way to be rid of slime mold is to simply scrape it up with a shovel and put it in with your lawn refuse or trash. You can also just disturb the mound with a rake or your foot and it will typically dry out and disappear into the mulch within a week or so. As the wet weather goes away and the high temperatures settle in, the slime mold will go away.
Picture from www.japanfocus.org