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Have you ever considered growing mushrooms in your garden? A wide variety of fungi possess qualities of edibility and/or aesthetic beauty appropriate for both the flower and kitchen gardens, or even for general landscaping. They may be grown with no greater effort than that required for plants.
In fact, many varieties will thrive nicely with little or no maintenance. For example, (the delectable Shaggy Mane) would feel right at home in and around your compost pile. The immense stature of the stunning purple-capped, black-gilled Stropharia rugoso-annulata may thrive in an area where lawn and woodchip mulch are in proximity, or between rows of straw-mulched vegetables or fruit trees.
Agaricus species (the Portobello, the Prince, the Horse Mushroom, etc.) are adaptable to grassy areas among trees. Pleurotus species (Oyster mushrooms) are easily grown on a variety of substrates including straw, wood chips, shavings or sawdust -- and even whole hardwood logs. There are boundless possibilities if you let your creativity and imagination guide you.
You should begin by taking a fresh view of your garden or landscape from a new perspective; analyze its "fungamentals." List or diagram its various micro-habitats with an eye toward the qualities important to fungi. Take note of existing substrates -- lawn, treed areas, shrubs and other plantings, newly cut hardwood logs, compost areas of kitchen scraps, branch chippings, grass clippings, manures and mulches of wood chips, straw, etc.
Note conditions of sun and shade, wind and humidity. Determine if any areas may be readily amended to improve the conditions for fungi, the most important of which are warmth, moisture and humidity, along with the proper nutrients and digestible materials.
The beautiful irony is that many substrates suitable for fungi are also beneficial to the garden itself, and most can be obtained for little or no investment, as they are often considered "waste materials" or by-products. Furthermore, the required humidity and protection from direct sunlight can be maintained by your leafy plants, shrubs and trees.
Once you have considered the possibilities, you should determine what mushroom varieties are suitable and desirable. This is a great opportunity to really get to know your mushrooms. Understanding what they need in order to produce fruit bodies will even help you to seek out and find them more easily in the wild. Why, you might ask?
Because you will more quickly analyze and interpret the conditions and microclimates which favor their growth. Here are some clues about the natural predispositions of several varieties, and the analogous conditions in your garden.
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