Growing fungi

Several people on site have tried to grow mushrooms. As far as I am aware, no one has managed it successfully. Phil tried with special dowel which had the spores attached. The dowel was put into pre-drilled holes in a large log. For some reason it didn’t work despite Phil following the instructions carefully.

I walked through Wilkinsons and spotted a mushroom growing kit. Apparently all you need to do is follow the instructions and you will have a crop of button mushrooms. It seemed worth a try, so I lugged the box home and made a start.

I opened it up to find a pack of compost and a bag of bark chippings with white mouldy stuff on. According to the instructions, the compost is only added after two days with the mushrooms growing through the soil after a couple of weeks.

I took out the compost and opened out the pack with the bark and mould. The plastic is used to protect the cardboard box from the damp conditions needed for the mushrooms. I loosened up the bark chippings and sprayed some water over the top to keep it damp.

To keep it warm for the first few days (between 20-25 degrees) before finding a cool dark place to keep it. I spent a while wandering around the house trying to find the perfect place to put it. My husband had the great idea of putting the box in the cupboard next to the oven. So there it is, a box that supposedly will grow mushrooms with minimal effort.

Who knows if this will work, but I am quite excited to see if anything will grow!