By Victoria Plum 
By Victoria Plum
I am trying a new strategy this autumn. Instead of finding the onslaught of fallen leaves a nuisance I have changed my mindset, so now I see them as a bounty.
So I will run the lawnmower over them to start the breaking-down process, although I am putting some into plastic bin bags, with lowdown holes for drainage, to rot (a job I have always meant to do, but never have).
Then I will spread them on to my garden soil as a mulch among the plants to protect and insulate, provide homes for invertebrates and return nutrients that have been drawn from the soil back to the soil, improving texture and fertility.
What a contrast to the old idea of digging (remember double digging?) to “let the weather in” and “break the soil down”?
This is one of the essential benefits of fungi and bacteria: to return vital nutrients to the soil as growing things mature, so Dr Tony Leech, Norfolk county recorder for fungi, described to us via the online meeting of the Reepham & District Gardening Club this month, which I enjoyed from the comfort of my own computer chair.
Among many facts, he explained that fungi feed more like animals than plants because they produce enzymes that break matter down to make it digestible.
These strange things, fungi, are just the fruiting bodies sustained by vast networks of mycelia that are the “roots” if you like, which we cannot see, but secretly spread through soil and plant matter.
So I have recently got used to the idea of a network of insects moving slow and fast all around me: ants busy building underground and dung beetles busy burying dog poo deep underground for their offspring (yes, really).
And now as I walk the dogs over Cawston Heath in the rain, I see in my mind’s eye the literally endless and invisible network of mycelia resulting in the range of fungi to be seen at this time of year.
At RSPB Strumpshaw Fen Nature Reserve at the weekend I saw plenty of decaying honey fungus, and you can see above a magnificent show of honey fungus in all its glory in the garden of gardening club member.
It looks fabulous, is edible, but I don’t think the member was pleased to have its identity confirmed! By the time you see it, of course, it is too late and your trees are riddled with it.
Go to the gardening club website or Facebook page to discover which speaker we will be lucky enough to have next month on Tuesday 17 November.
Mark your diary now, and contact Jeff Johnson if you would like an invitation, and the link, to the meeting.
Photo: Tina Sutton
Geoff Fisher