I have strange lumps of jelly appearing in my garden pots and have no idea what they are.

I first noticed it in my pots in the front garden (west facing) in late Sep/early Oct and have just noticed it again today in the back (east facing). I googled 'jelly lumps in pots' and found this rather long and somewhat bizarre BBC Scotland link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/outdoors/articles/jelly/

Living in 'central' London I think I can rule out stag semen and my logic (just about) discounts alien snot, frogs cannot get into my back garden and I doubt planes would eject just two 1cm squared lumps of 'waste'. I'm not going down the chem-trail avenue.

I'm more predisposed to believe the fungus answer or some sort of water-retaining pellet in compost, although the west facing pots would seem to discount both to a degree.

Anyone able to shed any light?

Not sure, but I wouldn't abandon the frog theory so quickly as we have found frogs and newts in pots in our garden despite being miles away from any suitable habitat.

Why do you think frogs can't get into your garden - during the spring/summer (especially during and after a downpour) our cats frequently bring home "gifts" of frogs/toads.

Science does not seem to have an answer for this. I think we will need to turn to religion for answers.
Have you tried eating it? It might be manna from heaven!

I HAVE HAD SOME RED JELLY BLOBS 'GROWING' ON AN OLD TREE STUMP AND ASSUMED IT WAS SOME SORT OF INSECT/INVERTEBRATE EGGS GLUED ON. WAS YOURS RED?

Could they be clusters of snails eggs?

thanks for the replies so far, still unsure

Frogs
I don't know a lot about frog habits. My rear garden is completely closed in with no gaps and 6ft fences. How high do frogs, or toads, jump?

Cats
I have no cats (they died several years ago ) and the chances of an unknown cat dropping a present in my front and back garden with only the frog spawn getting into the pots (with no random limbs or innards remaining elsewhere), on two separate occasions, is a long shot.
Given my memory of frog spawn from younger days, it is a mass of jelly globules with a black or dark dot inside. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co...gspawn.jpg

This is individual lumps of clear jelly stuff, quite angular and solid, like chopped up sweet jelly for puddings and trifles etc

Manna
Michael, you must come round to dinner

Blobs
Lottie, I know the red blobs you are talking about and have seen them ages ago, when i was young and living in the country, on damp/dead tree sumps. It's not them, but they are very curious.

Snails
Waaaaaaaay to big and solid for snail or slug goo. i recently set a gymkhana for snails etc in my garden hours of fun.

The best likeness to my jelly quatermas is in the first few seconds of the video on the link.

Sound to me like the water retaining gel that you can mix with compost to stop your pots drying out. You normally don't see it but when there has been a lot of rain it sometimes shows up on the surface. Some compost comes with it already included, or you can get it in tubs to mix with the compost your self. We always put it in our hanging baskets.

http://www.gardendirect.co.uk/supergel-w...9d7rdr9524

I believe dipsolala is breeding the giant jelly fish found off the japenese cost in recent times in her front garden

Perhaps it is the result of genetic engineering. Prince Charles did warn of the world being overrun by 'grey goo'.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk...456317.ece

I now believe that rather than food from the gods, this is set to wipe out the planet. The right course of action is to detonate a small nuclear device in dipsolala's garden to protect the rest of Forest Hill.

I thinks its more likely to be an oriental plot to take over Forest Hill, what with this, the knotweed, and it being a bit colder due to there being a nip in the air.

What do people think

No Saki comments please

shame you're not coming for dinner Michael, I was going to do sushi.

Given the further rain today, and that scheduled in the next few weeks, I anticipate my garden being engulfed in goo by Christmas.

I think the detonation of a small nuclear device to save the rest of Forest Hill is the only way forward (save bringing over the entire Japanese fishing fleet, which may take some time).

So, what do we need to effect this? On my list, so far, I have -
breeze blocks, an apple core, fishing rods, a long pokey thing that can withstand a bit of heat, some matches, goggles and a balaclava.
Anything I've forgotten?

Sorry - I think Lewisham is still in a nuclear free zone.

In any case you must consider the fallout.
The event would be bound to attract bad publicity and someone could lose their job.

dipsolala,
If you give me a bag of enriched uranium I should be able to cobble something together in about 45 minutes. Once I have destroyed the jelly and a few surrounding streets I would gladly let you buy me dinner.

Perryman,
As far as the council goes, you know what they say; What they don't know won't hurt 'em! So please don't discuss our little plan anywhere that council employees or councillors might overhear - I think we should be safe on se23.com

Try taking the pots indoors, to dry out the soil. You might get some interesting food for Michael this way.

thank you to everyone for your replies and suggestions. I think Bt is probably right with the compost water retaining blobs. So thank you Bt...and shaun, baa. I will be putting the front garden pots in the dry as they have my cuttings in, so thanks junegapi.

I'm still slightly perturbed about those responses on the BBC scotland page .. may be a latitude thing.
Seems to be only me that has these blobs in their compost down here though...which you must agree is odd.

The jelly is still there however, so I think me and michael are still on for having a blast sometime soon