Mushroom growing for an amateur gardener
Actually, I wonder whether the word gardener suits a person engaged in mushroom growing, since mushrooms are fungi, and so can hardly be said to grow in a garden. In fact, mushrooms grow in a very different environment from plants and gardens, requiring a complete, or almost complete absence of light, an absence of light that would quickly kill most plants.
However, if we use the word gardener in the sense of a person who cares for growing things, then I suppose the name fits. It’s very easy to care for mushrooms, primarily because they are basically a wild organism that has been harnessed by men for food. Another nice thing about mushrooms is that they are fungi, not plants, and this means that they can be a far greater source of protein than plants can ever provide. Another good reason for growing mushrooms if you’re a health conscious individual is the fact that if you grow the mushrooms yourself you can be sure that they were grown without all the excess additions of pesticide and fertilizers that are so common in most industrially grown foods these days.
When you try your hand at mushroom growing yourself you know that they are both organic and that they will benefit the health of your family. In this day and age when so much of our lives seem controlled by the mechanized and the artificial, home grown mushrooms can provide a wonderful source of health building protein for your family. Best of all, this wonderful food is easy, and indeed almost effortless to grow. There are starter kits available that make the whole process extremely simple without spoiling the organic aspect of things in any way. These starter kits are an excellent way to learn the basics of growing mushrooms, and I would certainly recommend them if you have never grown mushrooms before.
Mushroom kits are also a great idea for anyone who wants to grow mushrooms on a small scale without too much trouble. These kits come complete with everything you could possibly need to grow your own mushrooms, including the growing medium itself, and plenty of mushroom spores.
The procedure, if you have one of these kits, is easy and even elementary. All you need to do is to put the growth medium into a container, which is also sometimes provided. Even if the container is sometimes not provided, it should be easy enough for you to find a flat box that should do perfectly well. Once the mushrooms are planted in the box, they do require a certain amount of light watering, or rather spraying every day. This is all the care needed for most home mushroom growing.