A few years ago I bought a couple of the growing kits from Suttons. Got a few mushrooms but just like the ones you get in the supermarket and ended up being more expensive.

 

Tried regular button mushrooms from a kit with good success.

I've also tried oyster and ****ake kits with pretty limited success to be honest.

I'd agree with the post above about the economics of it all. They can be bought so cheaply that there's no real cost saving to growing your own in my experience.

That said I might try some of the more exotic varieties again one day just for the fun of it.

I saw this thing advertised online a few months ago. It looked fantastic, right up until I saw the price!

Shrooly: grow mushrooms you can't find anywhere

 

Tried regular button mushrooms from a kit with good success.

My late father in law did that a long time ago. it was safe and easy really.

 

I used to grow them in my polytunnel but got fed up of eating them, it took a few years before we could face them again.
A local farmer friend brought me fresh straw cow muck so I could get it hot enough to rot down for the base and I bought chalk from Steetley quarry (they ordered it in for me) and peat from out Blaxton way for the casing.
Even the used compost on the garden produced mushrooms and it took years for them to stop. We now buy mushrooms as and when we want them from the shop.

I've now managed to get blue stalks growing on the top of the allotment which are my favourite fungi

 

I had intended to "plant" chanterelles in the grounds of bat castle - given we have enough trees for them to grow around and modern-day Ohanzees are unlikely to do night raids on them. Unfortunately the only guy I could find who used to sell them in Ireland gave up a month or so ago.

The oyster variants are well worth a try as they cook well and seem simple to grow.

 

I had intended to "plant" chanterelles in the grounds of bat castle - given we have enough trees for them to grow around and modern-day Ohanzees are unlikely to do night raids on them. Unfortunately the only guy I could find who used to sell them in Ireland gave up a month or so ago.

The oyster variants are well worth a try as they cook well and seem simple to grow.

Sorry, but what is a modern-day Ohanzee? Google doesn't help.

 

What now seems like a lifetime ago when I was a student, I worked on a mushroom farm during the summer vac. It was incredibly hard work. We made compost from straw bales, which was then packed into heavy wood trays and then "seeded" with mushroom spores which were then germinated in dark sheds they were then fertilised with dung..
The old saying about mushroom syndrome - being kept in the dark and being fed bull**** is very true.

To be honest I don't think it's worth the effort.

 

I like trying new things so I might embark on an attempt to grow some mushrooms and I don't mind spending a bit to learn something new but quite honestly I think that it would be far cheaper and less hassle in the long run just to stick with buying the mundane mushrooms we get in supermarkets.

A few years back the local Tesco used to sell wild mushrooms and they were quite tasty but they don't seem to have had any in for a long time so that's out and although the town has an excellent independent greengrocers, it never has anything interesting in the mushroom department so no help there.

 

Unfortunately this place seems to be out of stock of a lot of product lines, but looks like they might be worth keeping an eye on if you do want a kit to try.

Fresh Exotic Mushrooms – Smithy Mushrooms | Exotic Fresh & Dried Wild

 

That's an interesting link Moby.

 

Wild mushrooms are autumn things. In a warm summer you will not find any. Wait until September when it is cooler and it has rained more.

 

I haven't grown any for decades (probably about the same time ago as home brewed beer and winemaking), however during lockdown I bought a huge sweetie jar of mixed dried mushrooms. They add interest to casserole dishes.

 

Any mushroom farm will sell or give you compost, usually in bags complete with casing, all you have to do is keep it moist and at around 18℃, although it will produce from around 13℃

 

I enjoy frying mushrooms for breakfast but didn't like the way they absorbed fat. Now I give them a two minute blast in the microwave before frying them and that's really improved the way they cook and taste to me, give it a go.

 

I've always liked mushrooms cooked in a microwave steamer, it really does preserve and even enhances the flavour and there's no heath disadvantages such as fats used during the cooking.

 

For the less health conscious, fry in butter, add seasoning and a little freshly chopped parsley with a judicious splash of brandy. This is how they were prepped for a Coq Au Vin recipe I tried years ago and it works pretty well.

 

Embrace the mushroom that have a lot of water by adding a roux to make mushrooms in sauce

 

Kits ordered today. It will be interesting to see how they do.

 

This is a kit off eBay I did last year. It was great fun to do with my 5 year old and they kept growing for ages after this. But soon got very bored of eating them!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

View attachment 87168
This is a kit off eBay I did last year. It was great fun to do with my 5 year old and they kept growing for ages after this. But soon got very bored of eating them!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've ordered pink and yellow oyster kits direct from the Urban Farm.

Mushroom Growing Kits | Shop Mushroom Grow Kits | Urban Farm-It UK

Grow your own Oyster, Shiitake or Lion's Mane Mushrooms with our top-rated Mushroom Growing Kits. From DIY to Open-and-Spray mushroom kits, we have a grow your own kit for everyone.

urban-farm-it.com

 

I remember the time I left a pair of damp woollen socks inside my wellies over the winter...

 

In the guardian again I'm afraid

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/oct/18/mushrooms-recipe-alice-zaslavskys-fungi-fettuccine

but the local priest, in this case the Tory office harridan, assured me that being referred to Guardian articles does not make one a Guardian reader - didn't get it in writing mind.

 

At Christmas I planted black truffles and porcini, I'm currently working on sheep's foot and gray chanterelles with a back order for yellow chanterelles. I purchase the mycelium "trigger" them in gluocose water, expose the roots of whatever tree they are going to grow round and pour the stuff over them.

I have a hazelnut bush and that got the entire black-truffle soup. The porcini went around the mulberry tree and a crab-apple tree I have yet to plant (Its thriving very well in a bucket) but don't know where. The chanterelles are going in the forest of evergreens that border the estate and the sheep's foot will probably go on the re-wilded croquet lawn.

Not quite mushrooms but for some reason the oregano has done magnificently, The rosemary is still alive, the thyme is struggling and the sage gave up the ghost long ago.

 

A friend of mine grew some very strange mexican mushrooms in vermiculite once, popped over to his to see if he wanted to go down the pub ,couldn't get a word out of him, he seemed strangely distracted.

 

Used to do a lot of wildfowling, which entailed many "early" mornings. The Marsh was unique as in only members of the club could get there (by ferry), so no other disturbance factors. On the way home (back to the boat about 2 to 4 miles)I would always pick "field" mushrooms, some the size of dinner plates. Excellent late breakfast.
One day I waited for a late morning tide, on they way back, it was hot (early October) and I found a few good big ones ? I put the pan on as soon as I got home, as I really fancied fried mushrooms for a late lunch. (I was about 16 and living at home with my parents). As they started to cook little white maggots started to pop out !! Put me off a bit. Now have to be picked 1st thing in the morning !