Mushrooms and toadstools in lawns

Mushrooms and toadstools are typically a sign of a healthy soil and there is therefore no need to do anything.  They will not damage the lawn and are an indicated that the soil is supporting a good microsystem of biological organisms.  However if you do not like the look of them they can be picked by hand – using gloves if you are handling toadstools as they can be poisonous – and putting them either on the compost or in the rubbish.  They will tend to appear when the conditions for fungal growth are perfect – this is either when it is too wet or too dry or it switches quickly from one to the other.  Warm and wet conditions in the autumn may result in mushrooms.  But to reduce the likelihood make sure you collect your grass cuttings and the lawn is scarified to reduce the amount of thatch.

Treating mushrooms:  this is difficult because there are no fungicides available to treat them in the UK.