Gardening Genius

Mushrooms are one of the healthiest foods, packed full with protein. If you’d like to grow them yourself, instead of chasing wild mushrooms, find out about some super-easy methods from the Garden News team and our expert Hélèna Dove.Dov

Quite frankly, mushrooms will grow anywhere, so if you haven’t got a spare patch for a mushroom bed, use an old book! It’s my favourite method I’ve seen – simply wet its pages, sow spawn in them and cover with a plastic bag. After a few weeks, put it in the fridge for a couple of days and you’ll soon see mushrooms emerging. Karen Murphy, features editor

Mushrooms grown on logs can be ‘shocked’ into fruiting by being immersed in cold water (the colder the better!) for 48 hours. Don’t use water straight from the tap as the chlorine can affect the mushrooms. Instead try rainwater. Within a few days, buds will start to appear from the log. Simon Caney, editor

I’ve tried growing shiitake mushrooms on a toilet roll (made from unbleached paper) soaked in water, then dusted with spawn and covered in a polythene bag and kept in a cool, dark place at 21-24C (70-75F), then placed in a fridge for three weeks. If you don’t want to eat them, it’s still a fascinating trick to show youngsters. Alternatively, use a mushroom kit from www. mushroombox.co.uk. Ian Hodgson, editor-at-large

If you order a mushroom kit, inside you’ll find small dowels impregnated with the fungus. You just hammer them into holes drilled into fresh logs of beech, birch or oak, alder, hazel, poplar or willow. Seal the holes, then wrap the logs in plastic and place them somewhere cool and shady for two to three months before taking the plastic off. You should get your first crop in around six to 18 months. Tonia Friedrich, garden writer

Sections of log with holes inpregnated with mushroom spores Once mycelium, a white froth that brings nutrients to the mushrooms, has appeared, cover your bed with compost through which the mushrooms will grow Hélèna Dove, Senior Kitchen Gardener,...