Mushrooms in the Garden

Question from Sue:

Mushrooms are coming up in my garden next to my spinach. They are actually touching the leaves. Is it safe to eat food that has touched garden mushrooms? Are garden mushrooms poisonous?

Answer from Pat:

Since you do not know if the fungi growing in your garden is or is not poisonous, I would wear rubber or plastic gloves if I were you and pull it out and discard all the mushrooms or toadstools growing amongst your vegetables. Then pick your spinach as usual and wash the leaves as you would normally anyway. Even if the leaves of the spinach touched a toadstool, this would not make it dangerous to eat.

Mushrooms often grow in damp soil that is rich in manure and rotting woody material, such as one finds in a vegetable garden. People who are uneducated in fungi and the various types of edible mushrooms and highly poisonous toadstools have a healthy fear of the entire subject as your question has shown. This is actually nothing to be afraid of, but only by gaining knowledge of the subject can one erase the fear of it. In my case I was taught from childhood up how to distinguish which are the best-known edible mushrooms, and also the poisonous types. My father was expert in knowing which were which as many English people are and he taught me. Without seeing the mushrooms growing next to your spinach, of course, I cannot tell you if they are edible or not. What I can tell you is that even if a poisonous toadstool touched your spinach, this would not make the spinach dangerous to eat. It is necessary to actually ingest a toadstool or a portion of one in order to be poisoned by it.

There are many species of wild fungi (mushrooms and toadstools) that are native to California and excellent books on the subject with photos and instructions for telling the difference between the various types. One can also find many photos of edible mushrooms and poisonous toadstools online. It would doubtless relieve your mind as well as add to your garden know-how if you were to own and study one of the many informative books or fieldbooks on the subject, such as those written by David Fischer and others. However, do not rely on books to teach you the skill of distinguishing the difference between mushrooms and toadstools. Unless you have taken a class in identification of fungi or been taught by an expert, do not eat any mushrooms you find in your garden. Even if the high likelihood is that they are perfectly safe to eat, this does not mean that they are.