Difficulty: Easy

Wine Caps are the easiest mushroom to grow in the garden bed method.

Wine Cap mushrooms like all sorts of woody debris so hardwood chips are an ideal substrate to use when making your mushroom bed. You can use a mix of straw and hardwood chips - if straw is hard to find, sugarcane mulch can be substituted.

Beds made with a mix of woodchip and straw mulch yield mushrooms fast and over several seasons.

Make sure there’s a mix of particle sizes so the bed doesn’t get too compacted but avoid large branches or other large pieces of wood as these will slow down the colonisation of the bed.

Wine Cap mycelium works quickly to break down mulches and build soil organic matter, great for maintaining moisture and promoting good soil health.

If you can, source freshly cut wood chips as these are less likely to contain potential competitor fungi. A bag of hardwood chips from your local garden centre will do the job and be the perfect amount for a 1x1m bed.

Choose a nice shady spot for your mushroom bed. Wine Cap mushrooms can tolerate some direct sun so partial shade is OK. If you’re in a hot dry climate, full shade is best.

Ideal locations are around the base of trees or as part of the mulch in and around vegetable gardens where larger vegetables will provide shade.

Wine Caps like contact with the soil so make sure you lay your bed down on a clear patch of dirt.

Wine Cap: Grows in 10°C to 30°C

Wine Cap will fruit once the mycelium in the bed is established. This can take 8-12 weeks.

Once the mycelium is ready, triggers for fruiting to occur are a drop in temperature and an increase in moisture. Wine Caps will usually pop up after heavy rain if your bed is well established.

Expect to grow: Seasonally

Mushrooms are a living organism and it is very hard to predict exactly what you'll harvest! As you'll be growing with the elements, outdoors, your mushrooms will pop up when conditions suit - usually after heavy rain or a drop in temperature.

Once your mushroom garden bed is established, with a little bit of care, it can produce mushrooms for years to come!

Storage: If you're not going to start your Mushroom Garden straight away, store your mushroom spawn packet in the fridge for 3-6 months.

Before you pick and eat any mushrooms from your garden, it's extremely important to correctly identify them. While unlikely, it is possible for other native fungi to pop up in your bed so best to be sure what you’re picking.

To learn how to correctly identify wild mushrooms we highly recommend the book: Wild Mushrooming - A Guide for Foragers by Alison Pouliot & Tom May.

Below is a basic description of the features of the Wine Cap.

The Wine Cap is characterised by its medium to large size compared to other mushrooms. It has a large cap, often 10-15cm or more in diameter. The caps are wine-red and bell-shaped when they first appear and fade to duller reddish brown as they mature. When fully mature the caps will flatten and can be a straw or tan colour. The gills start out white and turn dark purpley black in maturity. There is a toothed ring around the stem which is thick, usually 3-4cm wide and a creamy colour and bulbous at the base. The spore print of a Wine Cap is dark purple-brown, almost black.

Once you’re 100% sure on your identification, harvest your mushrooms before the caps upturn and release their spores - this can affect the flavour.

You must always cook mushrooms - eating raw mushrooms can cause digestive upset.

Difficulty: Easy

Pink Oysters are easy to grow in the garden bed method and the fastest growing species offered with this kit.

Oyster mushrooms will grow on a range of organic materials including straw, sugarcane, coffee grounds, wood shavings and other agricultural byproducts. For garden bed cultivation we recommend straw or sugarcane mulch. Don’t use hay or green material as these contain seed heads which will sprout in your mushroom bed and are too nitrogen rich.

Choose a nice shady spot for your mushroom bed. Full shade is best. Ideal locations are around the base of trees or as part of the mulch in and around vegetable gardens where larger vegetables will provide shade.

Pink Oyster: Grows in 18°C to 30°C

The Pink Oyster Mushrooms can handle the warmer weather and aren't fussy when it comes to substrates.

They are the fastest growing mushroom for this method and can start fruiting in 3-4 weeks after inoculation.

Pink Oyster mycelium will die if temperatures fall below 10°C so this mushroom isn't suitable for cold winters. Grow in Autumn, Spring and early Summer in most areas.

Expect to grow: Seasonally

Mushrooms are a living organism and it is very hard to predict exactly what you'll harvest! As you'll be growing with the elements, outdoors, your mushrooms will pop up when conditions suit - usually after heavy rain or a drop in temperature.

After the first fruiting, add more moist straw or sugarcane mulch to your Oyster bed to provide more food and encourage another flush.

Storage: Pink Oyster spawn does not store well and can't be refrigerated! Best start it right away.

Before you pick and eat any mushrooms from your garden, it's extremely important to correctly identify them. While unlikely, it is possible for other native fungi to pop up in your bed so best to be sure what you’re picking.

To learn how to correctly identify wild mushrooms we highly recommend the book: Wild Mushrooming - A Guide for Foragers by Alison Pouliot & Tom May.

Below is a basic description of the features of the Pink Oyster.

Oyster mushrooms form clusters of multiple fruiting bodies. They don’t form much of a stem, instead the caps are all joined together at the base. The edges of the caps curl down and flatten out and upturn once mature and releasing spores.

The Pink Oysters have a very distinct pink colour which starts off deep pink and fade to a blush pink as the mushrooms mature.

Although Oyster mushrooms are relatively easy to identify, there are some lookalikes that you may want to be aware of such as Omphalotus nidiformis, or ghost fungus, which looks similar to an oyster mushroom and is toxic. This will depend highly on your location, so the best bet is to ask your local mycological society or pick up a guidebook that is specific to your region.

Once you’re 100% sure on your identification, harvest your mushrooms before the caps upturn and release their spores - this can affect the flavour.

You must always cook mushrooms - eating raw mushrooms can cause digestive upset.

Difficulty: Moderate

Wood Blewits need a long time to establish, 12-24 months and have a smaller growing range. We recommend you don't attempt these if it is your first time making a mushroom garden bed.

Wood Blewits can grow on a mix of green and brown organic material such as semi-composted garden waste, twigs, leaves, grass clippings, bark, and straw.

The more variety of materials you can find to build your bed - the better! Think of a North American forest floor in Autumn, that's the Wood Blewit's natural habitat.

Your Wood Blewit bed will need to spend 12 months establishing the mycelium so the location you choose will need to be in full shade and undisturbed during this time.

The bed needs a soil or mulch floor, free from weeds. Under a tree canopy is ideal.

Wood Blewit: Grows in 7°C to 21°C

The Wood Blewit is native to North America and prefers a wet Autumn climate. We recommend only attempting this mushroom in temperate zones as it requires cold temperatures to initiate fruiting.

They need a full 12 months undisturbed to establish the bed before they will be ready to fruit so we recommend planting in Autumn or early Winter.

Expect to grow: Seasonally

Mushrooms are a living organism and it is very hard to predict exactly what you'll harvest! As you'll be growing with the elements, outdoors, your mushrooms will pop up when conditions suit - usually after heavy rain or a drop in temperature.

Storage: If you're not going to start your Mushroom Garden straight away, store your mushroom spawn packet in the fridge for 3-6 months.

Before you pick and eat any mushrooms from your garden, it's extremely important to correctly identify them. While unlikely, it is possible for other native fungi to pop up in your bed so best to be sure what you’re picking.

Wood Blewits can be confused with other similar looking mushrooms which are toxic if eaten. There is a lookalike species in Australia and you should be prepared to take a spore print to positively identify the Wood Blewit. We highly recommend purchasing the book: Wild Mushrooming - A Guide for Foragers by Alison Pouliot & Tom May. This book will teach you how to take a spore print and how to correctly distinguish this mushroom from lookalike species.

Once you’re 100% sure on your identification, harvest your mushrooms before the caps upturn and release their spores - this can affect the flavour.

You must always cook mushrooms - eating raw mushrooms can cause digestive upset.