There have been a lot of mushrooms and toadstools around recently. Have you noticed them? My new lawn, sown this spring and looking good despite the dry summer, popped up with some surprise fungi the other day.
This isn’t uncommon in new lawns – or any lawn for that matter – and it’s likely the cool, moist weather of autumn has encouraged them to appear. It’s also nothing to worry about and these amazing beings (neither plant nor animal) are largely to be embraced.
They don’t stay long so it's best to enjoy them while you can! In two or three days mine had burrowed back down underground, its fruiting and spore dispersal done and dusted for now. The only problem most fungi present in gardens is getting in the way when you’re trying to mow – in which case just wait until they’re gone, or brush them off on a dry day.
Of course, if you’ve got large, yellow-fruiting honey fungus, it's pathogenic. This means it’ll cause disease and potentially kill your plants. Meanwhile, the vast majority of our garden mushrooms are saprophytic, meaning they just feed on dead and decaying plant matter. They pop up to procreate, then remain underground for much of the of year.
They’re all part of the garden cycle; without them, we’d all disappear under unrotted logs and dead leaves! It’s all part of adopting a more healthy, relaxed approach to gardening; observing and enjoying much of the plant and animal life that chooses your garden, and just letting it be.