Would you like to know how to grow mushrooms? If you find yourself frustrated with the high prices and limited availability of specialty mushrooms at your local grocery store, why not grow your own? Doing so is easier than you may think.

Although you can't plant them in your vegetable garden, you can still grow your own gourmet mushrooms in your backyard. Home-grown mushrooms can be separated into two basic varieties: those that grow on the ground, such as Portobello and button mushrooms and those that grow on logs, including oyster and shiitake mushrooms. Both types need decomposing matter in order to grow, so you'll either need to use manure or a decaying log. This guide will show you how to grow mushrooms on either manure or a log.

• The easiest way to get spores to grow your mushrooms from is to get a mushroom growing kit. This takes the guesswork out of growing mushrooms and ensures that you are growing only healthy, sterilized mushrooms that are safe to eat.

• Mushroom growing kits are available at some garden supply and home and garden stores. If you can't find your desired kit through a local merchant, explore mail-order or online suppliers.

• In order to create the proper environment for ground-growing mushrooms, you will need:

1. The appropriate kit
2. Fully decomposed compost or sterilized manure
3. A compost bin

• To create your crop:

1. Place the compost or manure in the compost bin
2. Spread the kit contents over the manure or compost
3. Use your garden hose to water the bin contents
4. Cover the bin
5. Keep the bin in your garage, shed, or a shaded area in your yard
6. Protect the mushrooms from extreme temperatures (both hot and cold), moving the bin if necessary
7. If the bin contents become dry, moisten them with water. In most cases, however, the bin will create and maintain the required moisture for mushroom growth

• Most ground-growing mushroom kits will last for about a year. Within this year, you will likely be able to harvest two to four crops of mushrooms.

• To grow oyster, shiitake or other species of log-growing mushrooms, you will need:

1. An appropriate mushroom growing kit
2. A freshly cut hardwood log at least one foot in diameter and several feet long. You can also use a tree stump if you have one in your yard
3. A drill
4. A bucket

• Log-growing mushroom kits will contain several small wooden cylinders that contain mushroom spores. To "plant" these spores:

1. Wait for the winter
2. Drill as many holes in the log as you need. Space the holes about half an inch apart and make sure they are deep enough to contain the entire spore cylinder
3. Place one spore-containing cylinder in each hole
4. Place the log in your garage, shed or in a sheltered area in your yard
5. Protect the log from extreme weather elements and temperature fluctuations
6. Keep the log moist by placing one end in a swampy area or a bucket of water

• If you have used a log growing mushroom kit, you can look forward to home-grown mushrooms for up to five years. You should be able to harvest at least once, and sometimes twice a year, in the spring and fall.

• As you can see, growing your own mushrooms is easy, provided you have the correct materials. Unlike most other plants, mushrooms need very little care once they have been sown; all you need to do is keep the growing area moist and protect it from extreme weather conditions.

• Introduction
• Step 1: Get a Kit
• Growing Mushrooms in a Bin
• Growing Mushrooms in Logs
• Conclusion