Grow your own mushrooms - easy!

I’m not sure anyone thinks of mushrooms when they think of gardening. But vegetable gardeners are growing their own food, and mushrooms are food, so why shouldn’t we play in that garden, as well?

Those button mushrooms (white or brown) standard in the grocery aisle are grown in large, dark houses on a compost. The more exotic portobellos, shiitake, oyster mushrooms (among others) are grown similarly on their own favorite compost, in beds, bags or jars, under varying temperature and humidity conditions.

But you don’t have to have a large, dark house to grow mushrooms. There are table-top kits available by mail order and (occasionally) at local home and garden shows. These are easy to care for and such fun to watch grow. And then you actually get to eat mushrooms you grew yourself!

I wouldn’t say that they save money (much like regular city vegetable gardens), but they are no more expensive – pound for pound – than store-bought mushrooms.

Here are some mail order resources:

I got mine from: Fungi Perfecti
Olympia, Washington
http://www.fungi.com/
Kits for oyster, shiitake, wine caps, cinnamon caps, and almond Portobello

Territorial Seed Company
Cottage Grove, Oregon
http://www.territorialseed.com/
Kits for shiitake, oyster, button, maitake

Gardeners Supply Company
Burlington, Vermont
http://www.gardeners.com/
Kits for shiitake, Portobello, oyster, button