Growing Mushrooms

Well, I bit the bullet today and sowed my mushroom spawn. Inside the packet shown on the previous blog there were two envelopes of spawn. The directions indicated this was enough for about a square metre so I just used one envelope.

I decided to grow them in a box in the garage where the temperature is stable and it is completely dark. I firmed down some well rotted horse manure and sprinked the stuff on top. I am pretty sure that the mushroom spawn (which would be a microscopic fine powder) had been stuck on to grains of rice - that's what it looked like to me. Fork in the spawn into the top few inches of compost, water in and cover with wet newspaper. Wait for 10 days..... more to follow.

I want to grow mushrooms

I thought I'd try something new down on the allotment. I am not quite sure where I will grow them. I have a plentiful supply of well rotted horse manure and I can read the instructions on this packet of dry spawn.

I have a nice dark garage with plenty of space and I might grow them indoors there, or I could heap up the manure in a corner of the garden. Does anyone have any hints or tips for me?

What's in the trug today? - Part 2

My beefsteak tomatoes are just beginning to ripen. It seems as if I have had a wonderfully long season this year. The first ripening at the beginning of June and it looks as if it will go right up to October or November this year. The varieties here are 'Marglobe' and the yellow 'Jubilee'. The latter is from the USA and has been awarded the 'all America seletion' which I might assume is the US equivalent of the RHS Award of garden merit? Does anyone know?

I hope you all understand the fascination with my compost heap. All summer I have been mixing and turning, this is a combination of lots of hot horse manure and lawn clippings. The heat produced was something incredible. I think I am going to bag this up for use, and start a new heap.

I spotted these the other day. I had planted about 9 varieties of climbing beans, these are 'lima' beans. I haven't grown these before, I'm not really sure what to do with them. I think they are like a white butterbean when shelled. Can anyone shed light on it for me?

I wasn't terribly impressed with my outdoor cucumber arch this year. I grew about 5 varieties of outdoor ridge cucumber. Not very prolific and didn't grow very tall. The same varieties in the greenhouse have been fantastic. I think I'll stick to the indoor varieties like Telegraph next year.

I just planted out some Winter spinach seedlings this week. I find it more reliable to plant seeds in modules in the greenhouse, then grow on to a fair size before planting out. I think these are the old reliable 'Popeye'.