Compared to the Alaskan Bolete (most commonly collected mushroom).
	Can grow 16 inches across.
	Can grow on mound or bed of wood chips and/or straw.  It seems as though wood chips are the best for the mushrooms.
	Start getting busy in the spring.
	Shady, high humid place is a darn good idea if you want success.

	Make a bed or box 4 feet wide by 8 feet long by 7 inches deep.
	Add 4 inches of wood chips (1-4 inches in diameter).
	If using straw instead of wood chips, use a bright yellow variety (1-4 inch pieces).  Make sure it's mold-free.
	Wet the bedding, allow to sit for several hours.
	Get ready to inoculate or seed the bed with mushroom spawn. Spawn comes in clear plastic bags that contain the white fungus mycelium and bedding material.
	Can use Fungi Perfecti in Olympia, WA to purchase spawn.
	Need to break the spawn block into small pieces and distribute evenly across the 4 x 8 foot bed.
	Spread 2 inches of wet chips on top.
	The spawn will grow towards each other forming a continuous mat of white mycelium throughout the bed.
	Keep bed wet for first week or two.
	Once mycelium is spread out, cover with 1 inch of garden soil.
	Planting rye grass in the soil will keep it shaded, but it can suck moisture out.
	Install a rain gauge, needs 4 inches of water a day.
	Perhaps cover with permeable garden fabric (keeps bugs away).
	Mushrooms will form in 2-3 weeks.
	Can harvest all summer long.  Oh yeah, baby!

	Before winter, cover the bed with impermeable material such as polyethylene.
	Top that with several inches of "closed cell foam"  I found some polystyrene online with an R-value that can be up to 5.65 per inch.
	Snow will help insulate and protect it.
	If over-wintering is successful, the same bed will produce mushrooms for several years. Oh yes! What a cheap way to produce delicious mushrooms year after year.

	Add large rocks to keep the soil warm enough. This will help warm it up in the late winter and early spring. The rocks will also trap moisture under it.
	Perhaps plant the rye grass “around” the bed and through it in a “T” or “X” fashion.
	Add several mini ponds throughout the bed.
	Create a plastic green roof to help trap the humidity.
	Harvest rain water and create a drainage system that slowly leaks up to 4 inches of water per day.
	Make a 10 inch insulation border around the bed.
	What if the bed was 2 or 3 feet off the ground?
	Which plants grow best next to mushrooms (companions)?
	Which veggies will grow in shallow dirt and/or wood chips?
	Create the bed in a triptych fashion and experiment with various veggies that might grow: thus you will have 3 rows (1 only veggies, 1 only mushrooms, 1 with both).
	Should the veggies be “around” the mushrooms so as to have it's own soil?

Tags:

wine-red mushrooms stropharia rugosoannulata king-stropharia alaska girdwood growing planting gardening wood chips garden-beds fungi perfecti rain gauge veggies plant grow water companion dirt soil inoculate Alaskan bolete master gardeners association newsletter michele hebert article pdf