Mushroom in the mulch.

Okay, so several of us gardeners here have been complaining about the wet weather lately. It’s not great for some of our plants, and it limits what we can do and grow at the moment. One unexpected turn of events for me has been the appearance of mushrooms in several locations…

As you may remember, I had that nice big shipment of organic compost delivered a few months ago. I’ve used it as a layer of mulch to retain moisture in the hotter months. I’ve used it to level out part of the lawn. I’ve also mixed it into growing beds and in potted plants to enrich the soil. So, it’s all over the place.

I’ve also been using Tref – a mixture of black and white peat – for growing several of my young plants from germination until they can be planted out. Tref is of a similar consistency as my medium-grade compost – kind of spongy but with fibrous stuff mixed in.

So, with all this rain that’s been pouring down lately, everything has been quite damp and waterlogged, and between the excessive moisture and the nice, spongy growing materials, we’ve been noticing mushrooms sprouting up all over the place…

Mushrooms sharing space with potted plants topped with compost. These look like a bunch of eggs to me!

Mushrooms growing on the lawn that had been levelled off with compost.

Some that I saw started out as little yellow lumps and grew into cute yellow, then light beige mushrooms.

Mushrooms in what I believe is the intermediate stage.

I doubt they’re edible and I’m not going to experiment, but they’re so cute that they could be a bunch of cartoon characters!

It's no wonder creative people get their inspiration from different facets of nature... Sorry, just being a little silly with Photoshop :P

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