What is this funghi (?) in my potato bed?

Julia_G

Suddenly, my potato bed is absolutely covered with this (I am guessing) funghi. What is this and is it harmless?

It's only in the potato bed although I used the same soil and compost in many other places, so no idea why and how it came about.

Julia_G

another pic

coillsaille

I'm no expert but it looks like slime mold. I think it's harmless.

Mikros

I had the exact same fungus grow in some raised beds that I had covered in bark mulch. From what I Googled It's a type of cup fungus / Peziza fungus - the exact type is very hard to identify. They are harmless and just feeding off the decaying organic matter in the soil.

Julia_G

Well thank you both, that made for interesting research. I've never seen this before!

Jim_Hodge

Definitely not Slime Mould. It's the fruiting parts of a fungus usually found on trees. Is there woodchip in the bed?

grinder23

Had that grow in a shaded area exactly where the kids buried their hamster and they put a handful of bark mulch over the area.

magicbastarder

could it be growing off the planks you seem to have lined the bed with?

macraignil

I agree with the identification of the picture being a type of cup fungus. I had these growing previously on a vegetable crop area that had recently been converted from rough pasture by ploughing. Read they are generally just saprophytes feeding on dead material in the soil.

Happy gardening!

Julia_G

Thanks everyone, they're disappearing now! I found a few more around and indeed seems to have originated from the planks