How to grow delicious fresh mushrooms on a windowsill or a log
Mushroom growing has a similar vibe to mushroom stuffing – who has the time? But if you look on mushrooms as a perennial vegetable, growing your own starts to look a little less “show-off canapé” and a little more “perfectly sensible”.
Just as you would weed, prepare and manure your soil before planting rhubarb or asparagus, mushroom growing faff can be an investment in a long-term crop, one with an interesting and delicious pay-off. I say “can be”, because there are all sorts of ways to grow mushrooms, some with a quick return and a short life, some slow burn but fruiting for years.
For a quick turnover buy a kit, such as a Grow Your Own Mushroom kit (from Fungi Futures, shop.grocycle.com). Coffee grounds have been pre-inoculated with oyster mushroom spores, and will produce their first crop on a windowsill within 14 days.
For a longer term crop you need to do your own inoculating. Buy dowels inoculated with oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms or lion’s mane mushrooms (from thompson-morgan.com), and find yourself a suitable host log. Logs for mushrooms should be about 20in (50cm) long with a 4-6in (10-15cm) diameter and cut during the dormant season no more than six weeks before inoculation.
Use a drill bit wide enough to make a tight-fitting hole, usually 0.3in (9mm), tap in the dowels with a hammer, and seal them in with hot wax. Soak the log in water for two days and then wrap in tarpaulin, bury in a shallow pit, and forget it for at least six months.
When it is fully inoculated you will see “v” shaped markings on the log ends and it can then be brought out to fruit in a shady, sheltered spot. It will go on to provide you with an embarrassment of stuffing opportunities, several times a year for up to six years.
