Garden experts are starting to make room for mushrooms

From beefsteak to shaggy inkcaps, Emily Beament finds out why fungi are in the spotlight

- EMILY BEAMENT

Inkcap mushrooms

(RHS)

GARDEN experts are embracing fungi as part of a healthy garden, in a change of approach that comes amid an autumn bonanza of mushrooms.

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) says it is seeing record numbers of fungi at its five gardens around the country already this season, as this year’s weather has provided perfect conditions for good displays.

A sunny spring and summer benefited fungi that grow in close partnership with plants, which were able to make plenty of sugars and pass them on to their fungal partners to help them grow and reproduce, the RHS said.

And recent wet weather kickstarted growth of spongy-capped mushrooms known as “boletes”.

At the charity's Harlow Carr garden in Yorkshire, more than 768 species of fungi have been logged, up from 570 last year.