The forgotten kingdom: Fascinating fungi

Gardening with the RHS

Royal Horticultural Society

Home & Garden, Leisure, Hobbies

4.4 • 654 Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2020

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you thought that fungi are just toadstools, think again. In this episode we discover how they make food, both help and hinder plants, and even inspire music. Featuring author and biologist Merlin Sheldrake, mushroom grower Ann Miller and RHS gardening experts.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Get your tickets for the greatest show in Earth at an RHS garden near you.
0:05.0	Where nature puts on an unforgettable performance of colour and fragrance.
0:09.3	The scenery changes many times in one season and our finest trees will happily play the part of.
0:14.7	The best hiding place ever.
0:17.4	Booth.
0:18.2	Put your day out of dreams in the hands of the experts.
0:21.6	It's the greatest show in Earth.
0:23.7	At an RHS garden near you.
0:25.5	Book tickets online for discounts plus under fives go free and under 16 to five pounds.
0:30.2	I'm Guy Barta and welcome to Gardening with the RHS.
0:35.6	Last weekend saw a very important day to arrive in the calendar for some as it was UK Fungus Day.
0:42.3	This is a day to celebrate all things mycological. There were talks about fungi folklore, sessions on forays and fungal art and much more besides.
0:55.0	And so inspired by that day, I want to talk about the good side.
0:59.9	The fungus provides plants with moisture and nutrients that they've gathered using their fungal strands.
1:06.2	The bad side.
1:07.9	Fungy are pretty common as plant pathogens, so you have some diseases that are caused by
1:13.1	bacteria and viruses, but actually the vast majority of plant diseases are caused by fungi.
1:18.4	And the musical side. Bear with me on this one. Being funky living ground,
1:23.9	mycelium, mycelium. Of all things fungi in today's episode, growing like in stretching lifetimes, dwelling place,
1:34.3	Fungy have been a big part of folklore for centuries. In some places they were believed to be the devil spawn, as they
1:46.1	appeared after big storms. Naturally occurring circles of mushrooms are sometimes called fairy rings,
1:52.6	thought to be places where fairies come to dance. I'm not so sure about that myself, but I do know that in the
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