Mushrooms are an essential part of my home meals. We love mushrooms and eat them almost every week. Usually, I buy mushrooms in the stores or use the dried mushrooms we collected in the nearby forests. But, since the past couple of years were very poor on forest mushrooms I decided to start growing my mushrooms at home.

Choosing the mycelium

In the spring I decided to buy mycelium with some of the new plants which I purchased. I had 3 options button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and wine cap mushrooms. The first two need to be grown in special conditions and I wanted something that I can grow in the garden, so I went with the Wine cap mushrooms.

Wine cap mushrooms (Stropharia rugosoannulata) is an edible mushroom from the Strophariaceae family native to Europe and North America, but over the years it started growing in Australia and New Zealand too. This big mushroom is usually dark red to brown color with white meat and gills that turn from pale grey to dark brown. The stem has a white ring.

This mushroom grows very fast and it can grow huge in just one day. At first, they resemble button mushrooms, but once the mushroom starts growing it opens up and the cap starts looking like an opened umbrella. When it reaches its full size, it starts twisting up looking like a big bowl. It grows during the late spring, summer, and early autumn in moist and well-manured areas.

The mycelium came with 4 bricks of saw dust, which solve the issue of planting in the sawdust, and all I needed to do was to soak the bricks, and place the mycelium and bricks inside the garden.

Planting in 3 different locations

Since wine caps, like all mushrooms, like wet areas I had to be very careful with choosing the right area to grow them. My garden is a boiling pan during the summer; the only area I consider well enough for the mushrooms is the shaded part of the garden. Still, since I wasn’t sure where exactly to grow the mushrooms I separated and placed the mycelium into three different areas.

I’ve used the garden hole Srećko dug a few months back, the area next to a compost pile and the most shaded area of the garden where only forest plants like to grow. All of the areas were prepared the same way and I placed the mycelium in the holes the same way.

To be honest I didn’t expect much out of the mushrooms, considering the year we had. The drought was just too long and the temperatures were so high that there was no way I’d see any mushrooms any time soon. I was hoping that the mycelium would at least survive the year and grow some mushrooms next year.

First harvest

Still, as soon as the temperatures dropped a bit and we got our first rain, the mushrooms started growing. The first mushrooms grew in the shaded area of the garden. I was pretty sure this would be a good spot for mushrooms since there are a couple of parasite mushrooms growing around that area. The mushrooms in this area were a nice size and I got 3 mushrooms here.

The second area, in the Srećko’s hole, started growing mushrooms soon after the first one. Here I got only 2 mushrooms, which were a much darker color than the shaded area. The mycelium in this area spread so much that I could see it spreading around the wooden poles.

The third area was my composite pile area. Here I got a couple of mushrooms, but they were huge. Since this is an area that has been a compost/rabbit manure spot for ages it is well composted. In the end, I got a nice amount of mushrooms and enough for a nice Sunday meal.

I mixed the mushrooms with the button mushrooms and added some sour cream to the mix. I served it with baked chicken and mashed potatoes and the mix was excellent. Wine cap mushrooms taste great, the meat is firm and has a nice mushroom scent.

Next year plans

I’m pretty confident that the wine cap mushrooms will be able to stay in my garden. The mycelium looks to be spreading well. Still, I will add some fertilizers to every spot, and next summer I will water them regularly. Also, I think it would be a good idea to cover the spots with leaves in the winter. Just to be on the safe side with the freezing.

When in doubt about which mushroom to choose I’d recommend wine cap mushrooms. They taste great and are much easier to grow than button and oyster mushrooms. All you need is a bit of soil and they will grow in your garden. I can’t wait for next year to see how well they will grow in spring.