What are the mounds of clear slime in my garden?

Wizwoo

On the flower beds in our back garden there are patches of clear slime that cover the soil - quite gooey in texture and one mound was about the diameter of a side plate yuk.

Anyone have any ideas what it is and how to get rid of it?

Ww

Sid's_a_gardener

Didn't want to ignore your plea for help but I'm afraid I have no idea what this may be. Initially I thought it may have been produced by slugs, but the quantity sounds too great for them. I'm curious now, will wait for other suggestions to come in.

MonkeySaving?

Wizwoo wrote:

On the flower beds in our back garden there are patches of clear slime that cover the soil - quite gooey in texture and one mound was about the diameter of a side plate yuk.

Anyone have any ideas what it is and how to get rid of it?

Ww

I'd be interested to know this as well, just planted out some strawberry plants in a couple of terracotta pots with compost. There are now loads of little clear jelly mounds on it! I'm guessing something in the compost is reacting to the rain??

MonkeySaving?

OK, i found the answer to mine... not sure if it helps the OP?

The blobs of clear jelly are nothing to be alarmed about. It is a water-retaining gel which is regularly added to container compost to help prevent it from drying out so quickly in the summer.
Unfortunately, during the winter, this same material can have the opposite effect and keep the compost so wet that it suffers from water-logging, which may harm the plants. To avoid this, stand the pots on trays of gravel (or pot feet) to encourage rapid drainage which should help the plants to survive. For future reference, this type of compost is best kept for use in the spring and summer.

Wizwoo

Phew - so hopefully nothing too evil. It looks so ugly. I made the mistake of getting some compost from someone off freecycle once (some of the bags were full of rubbish! :mad: ) so it may well have been from that.

So I guess I can just bag it and bin it (the soil is heavy clay so really doesn't need it).

Penelope_Penguin

Wizwoo wrote:

On the flower beds in our back garden there are patches of clear slime that cover the soil - quite gooey in texture and one mound was about the diameter of a side plate yuk.

Anyone have any ideas what it is and how to get rid of it?

Ww

If they're the size of a plate, they might be be slime moulds. Just nature's way of getting rid of vegitation. Nothing to worry about, and they'll go away of their own accord.

Penny. x

angie_loves_veg

Penelope_Penguin wrote:

If they're the size of a plate, they might be be slime moulds. Just nature's way of getting rid of vegitation. Nothing to worry about, and they'll go away of their own accord.

Penny. x

slime moulds!! never knew about them!

another thing learnt today!:T