Growing forest mushrooms in the garden: Utopia or reality?

Many central European nations are mushroom pickers and mushroom pickers love walks in the forest. There is nothing we can do about it but that’s okay. We are sure that many people are constantly contemplating and wondering over and over again whether it is possible to grow forest mushrooms at home, in your garden. Just imagine. To be able to go to your garden and simply pick forest mushrooms, various types of boletes, cossacks and other great mushrooms from the comfort of your home is very enticing. You will be able to prepare delicious dishes any time you feel like it. That would be great, wouldn’t it? We have noticed that mushroom seedling kits, guaranteeing an excellent harvest, have been appearing in stores. Do they actually work?

Different type of from seedlings

The Internet is a very rich source of interesting information and products, but many are worth nothing. A typical example is the forest mushroom seedling kit. These kits are usually available as liquid preparations or in the form of granular seeds. Almost every time you see a kit like this it is a marketing trick but many people buy it anyway. Know this. Typical forest mushrooms cannot be grown in your garden. The only alternative is to build a fence around your little forest, if you own one, but that doesn’t really count.

Forest mushrooms: Photo Pixabay

Why forest mushrooms cannot grow in your garden?

The reason is very simple and it is based on biology.Forest mushrooms need to live in direct partnership with living forest trees or rather with their root systems. This process is known as mycorrhiza and you simply cannot achieve this process in your garden!

Oyster mushrooms: Photo Pixabay

Only wood-decaying fungus 

Only wood-decaying type of fungus can be grown in your home environment. There are more than 10 species of this fungus, so let us name few:

• Enokitake,
• Oyster mushrooms,
• Black wood ear,
• crab-of-the-woods,
• sheathed woodtuft
• shii-take
• and more.
• Okay, we shall not forget popular Champignon mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus)
• which are sold in seedling sets or in cotton wool containers, and actually work.

If you have a birch, hornbeam, or spruce or other similar tree in your garden, forest mushrooms can actually grow in these places. But this is a natural occurrence and not a targeted growing.

But consider this. Do you really want to lose the magic of walking in the woods and hunt for mushrooms? No, you don’t.

Forest mushrooms: Photo Pixabay