How to control mushrooms in your garden

Mushrooms growing in your garden can be quite welcome if they’re safe to eat, but mushrooms growing in your lawn is a very different matter.

It’s not uncommon to find mushrooms growing on grass, but if you’re trying to create a manicured lawn aesthetic, you definitely don’t want unsightly toadstools popping up.

Even worse is if you fall victim to poisonous lawn mushrooms, as these can render whole sections of your lawn unsafe for small children and pets.

Let’s look at why you sometimes find toadstools in lawns, and how you can prevent mushrooms in grass to keep your lawn looking great and safe to use.

Why are mushrooms growing on your lawn?

First of all, it’s useful to know where mushrooms come from. As fungi, they are spread and grow from spores, making it impossible to guarantee that you’ll never see mushrooms in your lawn.

Landscaping activity can disturb spores and trigger them to start growing, so you’re more likely to see toadstools in your garden when you’ve just finished landscaping it.

While that can be frustrating in your newly pristine garden, there are steps you can take to reduce the risk, and to get rid of lawn toadstools without damaging your grass.

Is it bad to have mushrooms growing in your garden?

It’s not necessarily a bad sign if mushrooms grow in your garden.

Mushrooms prefer damp and shaded conditions, so a lawn with good drainage and plenty of sunlight should be at less risk. In general, though, if plant life (or ‘plant-like’ life in the case of mushrooms) decides to grow spontaneously in your lawn, it can be a sign of healthy soil and bodes well for your rockeries and bedding plants.

As mentioned above, some lawn mushrooms are poisonous, so be sure to tackle these to avoid any risk of harm to pets, children, or wildlife.

How to stop mushrooms growing on your lawn

Just as there are ways to prevent weeds, there are certain steps you can take to stop mushrooms growing on your lawn.

Maintain good drainage and try to keep good levels of sunlight on your lawn, including cutting back any overhanging branches to expose more of your grass to daylight.

If toadstools are a persistent problem, avoid leaving grass clippings to mulch back into the lawn after mowing – this can lead to higher carbon levels in the soil, which fungi love.

Mowing regularly in dry weather, aerating your soil and de-thatching your grass can all help to reduce the risk of mushrooms or toadstools growing back.

How to get rid of mushrooms without killing the grass

There are no good chemical treatments for lawn mushrooms, and it’s generally not a good idea to use harsh fungicides on lawns.

If you follow the suggestions above, you should find toadstool outbreaks are relatively rare, allowing you to tackle them directly when they occur.

Remove new mushrooms as soon as possible, to avoid them sporing. Wrap them tightly and place them in your general waste, not in your compost heap, so they cannot find their way back into your grass.

Because mushrooms are not actually harmful to your lawn – and with the caveat to be careful about any potentially poisonous lawn toadstools – just removing them is usually enough to keep them under control, and to avoid an infestation in the near future too.

If you are still unhappy with your lawn looks, you can always invest in our Gold Standard Turf for a fresh lawn.

If you have any questions about lawn care or buying and laying turf, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

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