Cornwall’s soils carry a legacy of mining and farming—yet fungi, bacteria, and plants offer hope for healing. Discover how mycoremediation and microbial allies can detoxify and renew tired or polluted garden soils, right beneath our feet.
Bioremediation and Soil Pollution Remedies for a Resilient Future
In Cornwall, the land holds many stories—of tin mines, clay pits, and generations of growers working the soil. But these same stories have also left traces beneath the surface: heavy metals in old industrial plots, pesticide residues from earlier farming eras, and the quiet compaction of soil under decades of stress. Today, gardeners and land stewards across the Duchy are turning to an emerging ally in the quest to restore the land: bioremediation.
This is no futuristic fix—it’s the slow, steady magic of fungi, bacteria, and certain plants working together to detoxify and heal the ground beneath our feet.
Cornwall’s beauty is layered with a complex environmental inheritance.
The solution, as it turns out, may be growing beneath us.
Fungi like Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushrooms) and Trametes versicolor (turkey tail) are specialists at breaking down difficult compounds. Their enzymes—like laccases and peroxidases—dismantle hydrocarbons, pesticides, and even microplastics.
Species like Pseudomonas and Rhodococcus have evolved to degrade petroleum products, pesticides, and herbicides. Others work with plant roots, shielding them from toxicity while fixing nitrogen and cycling nutrients. Together, they form a biochemical support system beneath the soil surface.
Phytoremediation—using plants to extract or stabilise soil toxins—is increasingly part of the picture.
These species don’t remove every toxin, and the biomass must often be safely discarded, but their role in landscape recovery is real.
In gardens across the southwest, spent mushroom substrate—rich in active fungi and organic matter—is being used to kick-start tired soils.
Even in small gardens, bioremediation techniques can be gently introduced:
Before planting food crops on unknown ground, use a basic soil test kit or contact a local lab. Look for pH, lead, arsenic, copper, or pesticide residues—especially if your site is near old industrial or farming zones.
Try inoculating wood chip paths or logs with wine caps (Stropharia rugosoannulata) or oyster mushrooms. These fungi improve soil structure and may reduce low-level contaminants over time.
Grow sunflowers, mustard, or clovers in contaminated zones—but don’t compost them. Remove and dispose of biomass after flowering. These can draw up trace metals and help break down residues.
Add compost, leaf mould, and mulches regularly to fuel beneficial microbial life. Rich soils are more resilient to pollutants and more capable of supporting cleanup communities.
Fungicides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilisers can disrupt microbial communities. For bioremediation to succeed, your soil’s living web must be supported, not sterilised.
If your site has high contamination levels:
Bioremediation isn’t a fast fix—but it’s a quiet revolution. With patience, gardens on once-degraded land can be transformed into vibrant spaces for life, both above and below the surface. Every mycelial strand, each helpful bacterium, every purposeful planting—these become tools of renewal.
In a county with a history etched in soil, healing the land means partnering with it. Whether you garden on a hillside above a mine, a reclaimed paddock, or a city backlot, supporting microbial allies can create long-term beauty, safety, and nourishment.
