Mushrooms, mushrooms come to me…

Saturday, 29th of July 2023 [80]

I know, I know. It’s not #FungiFriday, cause it’s Saturday already, but yesterday was a hectic day and I didn’t manage to post this yesterday. In fact, I’m pretty sure I started drafting this last Friday, but somehow the draft is not here.

Was I just dreaming about writing this? Maybe.

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Last time I posted mushroom article I was a little disappointed with the lack of mushrooms in my nearby forest. We had a very dry and sunny May and June and all I found in the forest 3 weeks ago were some dried up mushrooms.

Well, guess what? We had quite a lot of rain since then and mushrooms must have heard my moans, because they decided to come to me!

No kidding! One day I walked to my garden to pick up a few blueberries and I saw them growing on my lawn!

Quite a big and happy family of them growing happily in my lawn. Seeing them growing here made me happy too.

I remember them visiting my lawn a few years ago, but I guess last year we didn’t have that much rain, so they didn’t show up.

I also remember either reading or someone telling me that they’re not good for the health of the lawn, but you know what? I don’t care all that much about the lawn.

The ground in the back garden isn’t very well leveled and it’s quite hard work to mow it on my own. I think it took me 3 attempts, 3 weekends in a row to cut it completely. Afterwards I was quite happy with a dry spell, cause it stopped the grass from growing and even dry up in most parts.

My friend Tina always moans about dry patches on her lawn, but neither me nor the mushrooms mind them. In fact I think less competition from grass helped them to pop up, hence why people say they’re no good for the lawn.

But hey, for a mushroom lover like me this is a gift from momma nature. Of course, I love a good walk to the forest, but having the mushrooms come to me, while I can’t find them in the forest and all my fungi pics have already been prestented here it’s quite amazing.

I was running around my little garden trying to capture them from all possible angles. Of course I had to try and capture them with the wall of my house in the background too, just to show you that they actually grow in my garden 😁

Some of them were already in pieces before I got to them, but I capture those less fortunate ones too.

Before you ask… no, I won’t be using these to cook a dinner or lunch. They don’t look like any type of edible mushrooms that I know.

Gills are usually a deciding factor for me. There are very few types of mushrooms with gills that I would feel comfortable picking for eating purpose. These would be Parasol Mushrooms, Milk Cups and Chanterelles. Although the gills on Chanterelles are quite different and more sturdy than gills on other mushrooms.

Those in my garden are definitely not any of those 3 types of gills mushrooms that I would pick for eating, so I just let them be there for as long as they like.

While I didn’t plant any new edibles in my garden this year, I still have some hardy plants that I planted in previous years. Like my favourite wild strawberries that I showed you guys before, one bush of red currants that needs to be moved to a more sunny position, as it only grows a few fruits each year, gooseberry bush that sucombed to some unknown disease and finally blueberries! These grow many more fruits since I added the second bush.

Out of curiousity, I googled lawn mushrooms and what I found out was that most types are harmless for the lawn. They’re actually a sign of a healthy microbe in the soil and the help recycle old matter, just like they do in the forest. There are some poisonous types that might be harmful to children or pets in the gardens, but since I don’t have either, I have nothing to worry about, just enjoying their presence and sharing them with our amazing #FungiFriday community by @ewkaw ☺️

Until next time 💙