Last Sunday, I walked up our long garden with little Margot. On the way, we passed the stump of the old horse chestnut tree. It was felled four years ago and I now use it as an extra bird table. I was quite efficient at removing any signs of new growth as we did not want the tree to grow back via side shoots.
On Tuesday afternoon, I took our kitchen caddy bin up to the large compost bins that are situated near the top of the garden. Again this involved passing by the horse chestnut tree stump. Within those forty eight hours, something amazing had happened.
A lot of mushrooms had burst forth from the earth - dozens of them in clusters. We had never seen fungi there before and I am sure it was connected with the dying tree stump and its roots that no doubt reach out like tentacles beneath the soil's surface.
Our fungi is I believe a common honey fungus. It is especially connected with dead tree root systems and can be quite destructive in any garden - perhaps spreading to other susceptible plants. There are no known chemical treatments that can successfully destroy honey fungi. You either live with it or dig out old tree roots and stumps before burning them. Some gardeners even bury rubberised barriers like pond liners in the ground to prevent the potential spread of honey fungi but there's no way I will be doing that. I prefer to let nature simply takes its course.
Mother nature doing Mother nature. It's lovely to see.
ReplyDeleteThese are wonderful photos, YP. Even though I do not like to eat mushrooms, I love to see them and take photos. I really need to get some sort of identification book since I see so many varieties.
ReplyDeleteThey sprouted rather quickly, didn't they?
ReplyDeleteThere is a strong relationship between fungus and trees. Each one helps the other.
ReplyDeleteAt least they are pretty to look at, but will you allow them to spread and take over or keep them confined to that one patch?
ReplyDeleteDo you dare eat them? My internet researches suggest that you can.
ReplyDeleteI find fungi infinitely fascinating. We have masses in our garden, all different but equally enchanting.
ReplyDeleteWhen something happens very quickly, like for instance a certain kind of shop starting to show up on all high streets, in German we say that they spring up like mushrooms. And that saying has of course its roots (!) in the fact that fungi can appear above the surface of the soil or on tree stumps etc. in the space of a very short time.
ReplyDeleteI applaud that you have not dug out the tree stump and are not planning to destroy the honey fungus in your garden.
Funnily enough the very same thing happened a few days ago on the stump of the cherry tree in my garden. Maybe all the fungi of the country are communicating and saying this week is the week to pop up. Be careful not to make any tasty dishes with it like that woman in Australia!!
ReplyDeleteGiven that fungus feeds on dead things, I find it hard to imagine your honey fungus could do any real damage. It is quite attractive and it must have been quite exciting for little Margot to see.
ReplyDeleteThink of how cluttered the earth would be without the fungi to help break down the dead wood and return it to the loam.
ReplyDeleteWe had similar mushrooms in our back garden a couple of years ago, and I worried about whether they were honey fungus, but they never did any damage (as far as I could tell). We have mushrooms now, too, right in the middle of the lawn. I think they're growing from the roots of the old teasels.
ReplyDeleteIf only they were truffles.
ReplyDeleteThe same thing has happened in our garden!
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