I’m going to show you how to remove wild mushrooms the easy way! No chemicals or DIY liquid mixtures needed!

I think mushrooms are cute, but not when the pop up in our garden beds.

I plunked Mr. Gnome next to them, thinking he would help the mushrooms look like an actual garden feature.

Although I totally cracked myself up — as I often do — my husband wasn’t as amused. The mushrooms needed to go.

I went to the wonderful interwebs to learn more. The interwebs never disappoint!

Why do I have mushrooms in my garden?

If you’ve got mushrooms in your garden, then you have lots of organic material in your garden bed soil and that’s a good thing.

You want a good amount of organic matter in your soil.

Earlier this Spring, we added lots of cow manure to our garden beds because I’m determined to improve the soil. And that is another post for another day, but shoveling and mixing this into our soil definitely improved it.

How could we tell?

Well, in addition to the plants and flowers looking much better already this season, we’ve got mushrooms!

And by the way — mushrooms grow in shade and in sun, as you can see next to my Bobo (miniature) Hydrangea.

Don’t fret if you have mushrooms.

Instead, pat yourself on the back because you have great soil!

How do I get rid of mushrooms in my garden?

Easily!

Although you’ll find lots of articles on the interwebs on how to use homemade mixtures, or which fungicides and chemicals to spray on mushrooms — there’s a much easier and simpler way:

Just remove them.

I’m not trying to be funny.

Well, maybe just a bit.

Some people freak out that you need to eradicate the mushrooms — including any and all parts of them growing underground.

It’s just not necessary.

Step One: Wearing garden gloves, gently pull each mushroom up from the base and you should be able to remove it with the roots attached.

Let’s take a moment and marvel at how detailed wild mushrooms are. Seriously, they are bizarre to look at!

Step Two: Toss the mushrooms into a garbage bag and throw away. (Doing this helps prevent the spores from blowing around and popping up somewhere else in your garden. Or your neighbor’s garden.)

Step Three: Using a hand rake — or as they are officially called: a cultivator — gently rake up the mulch. (You can also do this with your garden soil, if you don’t have any mulch on top.)

Think of it as fluffing up the mulch and getting some air in there.

This will help the mulch and soil dry a bit.

Mulch is great for helping to retain moisture in your garden beds, but it also can provide ideal conditions for wild mushrooms to grow.

That’s it!

Easy peasy!

I did this two weeks ago, and haven’t had mushrooms pop up since. And if they do, which is quite possible, I”ll just repeat this process.

The garden beds look much nicer without the mushrooms.

But I still liked my idea of placing some gnomes around!

Happy gardening!

~Laura