HelpfulGardener.com

Hello,

I've never been good at gardening and on a whim decided to put together a pot for my front porch to bring a smile to my face when I come home. And while it did do just that for a week or so, now I look at it with perplexity. I noticed two days ago these little round heads sticking out of the soil. Yesterday morning when the sun was nice a bright they had sprouted up into black mushrooms. We used some compost at the bottom of the pot, but fresh store bought organic potting soil at the top where the plants were placed into. Since I'm pretty much a rookie and usually kill everything I try to grow I'm at a loss. Can anyone offer guidance on what to do, they seem to be killing the New Guinea Impatient which is my favorite part of the pot. I'm in Southern Cali if that matters/helps. Thank you!

Harmless fungi. If you don't like them (some can be kind of pretty) pull them out. They will not do harm to your plants, but don't eat them.

Thank you will pull them out then. But the impatient is dying rapidly and they are turned the rest of the plants black.

Generally mushrooms are a sign of good soil biology. Could be that it's not the mushrooms that are the problem. It could be that the conditions that are favorable to mushroom growth aren't so favorable for the impatiens. So the mushrooms could be a symptom but not the cause. For exampole, if you catch a cold, your coughing is not the disease, it's the symptom.

How often are you watering them?

How exposed are they to rain?

How much sun do they receive (lately)?

Try to water everyday, but every other day a few times since planting. There's no rain here this time of year, I think it's considered semi-arid. My porch faces east so they get sun in the AM until about 11:00 maybe. They've been blooming and looking great until the mushrooms came.