new hugel... mushrooms like crazy! help!

We built our first hugel several weeks ago and put plants (and seeds) in it on Father's Day (so, two weeks ago)... after a really dry week last week, it finally rained like crazy this weekend (and is still raining), and little white mushrooms are popping up all over our hugel. While we are thrilled that ANYTHING is growing (because the entire idea of a hugel is so fantastical when compared with having to till and keep beds, etc), we are not sure about these little mushrooms.

Should we be plucking them out? We wouldn't even think of eating them (because we can't identify them), but are they bad to have around the other things we have growing? Can they harm us via the veggies and herbs that are growing amongst them (the mushrooms)?

We are so excited to see our plants doing well, as we are sort of lazy gardeners. The hugelkultur attracted us because we could use things we already had (wood from our land, compost from our compost pile, goat poop from our goats...) to build something that would benefit us long-term.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Kim in NC

PS- It's STILL raining here! Is there ever a situation of too much rain for a hugel?

I wouldn't worry much about the 'shrooms contaminating you food. If it were me I would try to identify what they were on the off chance they are edible. On any count I would consider them a good thing, breaking down the wood, creating some nice soil texture/structure, creating a good environment for your plants to grow. Good sign in my opinion.

Can you post a picture of them?

Many white mushrooms (those of the Amanita genus) are deadly poisonous, but they do not leave a toxin in the soil or on any of the plants growing there. On the contrary, Amanitas are mycorrhizal, meaning that they form symbiotic associations with plants that help the plant to grow. They break down the wood that you have buried and transport the nutrients and share them with your vegetables.

John Elliott wrote:Can you post a picture of them?

Many white mushrooms (those of the Amanita genus) are deadly poisonous, but they do not leave a toxin in the soil or on any of the plants growing there. On the contrary, Amanitas are mycorrhizal, meaning that they form symbiotic associations with plants that help the plant to grow. They break down the wood that you have buried and transport the nutrients and share them with your vegetables.

I'm thought about that after I posted today. I'll take a picture of them tonight and post it Friday (no work tomorrow, no internet at home!)...

Thanks for the help-

Kim in NC

there are also a lot of edible mushrooms that will grow on dead wood..so that might be a nice crop for you if you can identify them..check the mushroom sites on the internet for photos and descriptions