Mushrooms

Cultivating mushrooms at home or in the garden can be very inexpensive and easy. Though be it long waits for crop yields, growing mushrooms such as shiitakes and portabellas can be a huge cost saver, or even profitable.

The first thing a grower is going to need is some wood. Not just any wood, it must be a fresh cut hardwood. Oak and Ironwood are the best, but Maple has even been said to work rather well. Softwoods such as poplars, locus, and pines will not yield any mushrooms, because the trees themselves have a natural fungicide, which will stop the spore plugs from growing. These pieces of wood can be any size. The smaller the better to simplify manipulation of the log. Many sources suggest 3 foot sections about 8 inches in diameter. The wood should also be cut while the tree is dormant. The wood should also include mature, healthy bark to help protect the wood from bacteria and other fungi that may want to grow on the wood and compete with the spores.
Next you take the wood pieces and drill holes all around the log 3-6 inches apart. Cover the log in holes like this but be sure not to damage the bark any more than necessary. Be sure your wood is fresh cut and still wet, or the spores will not grow properly and your yield will be reduced or void. Simply force spore plugs of desired mushroom into holes in each log. Use cheese wax or light sealing wax to coat the top of each hole after the spore plugs are inserted. This should be a light coating, brushed on with a paintbrush. It is also important the wax not be too hot. About 145 degrees is recommended. The spore plugs can be purchased at www.fungi.com at a respectable price.It is important to keep the wood moist from this point on. Soak the logs as needed, ensuring the bark is allowed to dry between each soaking. Depending on your mushroom breed, first harvest may not be for 12-18 months. Typically harvest will be in the Spring and Fall, due to the natural change in temperature. There is a method used by industrial growers to force harvests anytime, but this could shorten the life of your mushroom log. To force a harvest in Summer, you simply wait for the log to get dry and in need of a soaking. Soak the log in water that is slightly colder than the ambient temperate (cold tap water should work). The mushrooms read this change in temperature as the onset of cold weather, and thus attempts to reproduce. Mushrooms will appear in 1-3 days. This method does not work on all types of mushrooms. One log should last 2-3 years until it needs to be replaced. This, too, depends on the species of mushroom.

It is also possible to cultivate some mushrooms in mushrooms beds. These beds are prepared out of chipped hardwoods, about 6 inc

hes thick. The bed is then sprayed with water, and then spores are spread onto bed. Another layer of much 3-4 inches thick is then laid on top of the spores, and watered again. Bed should be kept shady and moist. Some mushrooms will grow with this method the best, but most cultivatable mushrooms prefer log method. This information can be found on fungi.com.

Bush Beans

Bush beans are a type of bean which grows in bushes, rather than in vines. This article is going to talk about green beans, which are my favorite type to grow in the garden. Green beans prefer a soil pH of 6.5-7.5, but will grow in a variety of soil types and qualities. Sow seeds directly into ground after fear of frost has passed. If you want fresh beans all season long, it is best to sow small patches in 2 week intervals. I like to have one or two large harvests each year, so I only plant the beans once. I do, however, have one massive harvest. Considering I can and dry most of them, this is preferable for me. When you plant green beans it is nice to add some dark compost to the rows before covering seeds with dirt. Sow them at a depth of 1’’, and water after planting. They like full sun, and will sprout within 7 days. Thin out plants after they sprout to 1 plant every inch or so.
There are many different types of green beans to plant. I usually use Blue Lakes, but there are many different kinds. There are even kinds that are yellow, red, and even purple. These look great dried, but once cooked they all usually turn green. All of them grow about the same, so pH and soil quality differences are not relevant between one green bean species or another.