How about a gardening thread?

[meloncollie]

Have any of you gardeners tried to grow your own (edible!) mushrooms?

Given that I often have fungi sprouting up in my lawn I assume conditions might be right. I've seen kits at the garden centre where you introduce spores onto a log or stump - are these any good?

As competition is keen among wild mushroom gatherers in our area, and now that Hooligan is retired from her Fungushound duties my luck seems to have waned - so I'm interested in trying my hand at cultivation.

Any experience or advice most welcome.

[amogles]

We have a hazelnut sapling, not more than about 50cm tall that probably grew from something a squirrel left. In contrast to a normal hazel, the leaves are red, in the same way red beeches are. In fact I first thought it was a red beech at first but now that it's bigger it clearly is a hazel. Does anybody know anything about those? Does anybody know if they will survive in pots? We have a location where it would look good but that's still some years away. It can't really stay where it is now, so putting it in a pot would be a temporary solution to bridge that for a year or two.

[pilatus1]

	Quote:	amogles
	We have a hazelnut sapling, not more than about 50cm tall that probably grew from something a squirrel left. In contrast to a normal hazel, the leaves are red, in the same way red beeches are. In fact I first thought it was a red beech at first but now that it's bigger it clearly is a hazel. Does anybody know anything about those? Does anybody know if they will survive in pots? We have a location where it would look good but that's still some years away. It can't really stay where it is now, so putting it in a pot would be a temporary solution to bridge that for a year or two.

You might be better off planting it in a fabric container than a pot. A perennial as large as a hazel will get root bound in a pot, whereas the roots will 'air prune' in a fabric container and it will take to transplanting much better when you get around to it. Many landscape nurseries now use fabric containers for that reason.

You could always stick the fabric container in a barrel or something similar if it seems ugly.

[pilatus1]

	Quote:	meloncollie
	Have any of you gardeners tried to grow your own (edible!) mushrooms? Given that I often have fungi sprouting up in my lawn I assume conditions might be right. I've seen kits at the garden centre where you introduce spores onto a log or stump - are these any good? As competition is keen among wild mushroom gatherers in our area, and now that Hooligan is retired from her Fungushound duties my luck seems to have waned - so I'm interested in trying my hand at cultivation. Any experience or advice most welcome.

I bought a kit once decades ago, but all it grew was mold. TBH it may have been my fault..

As far as a know, shiitake are grown on stacks of oak logs, with holes bored in them and innoculated plugs of fungus 'spawn' are hammered into the holes.

Oyster mushrooms, pleurotus ostreatus, are some of the easiest of all mushrooms to grow beause the fungus will colonize almost anything. I saw a picture once of a huge crop growing out of a stack of old phone books that been sprayed with liquid innoculant.

If you find a wild patch of morels, you could try digging up some of the fungus mycelium,
( the white stringy stuff) and gently move it to a similar location on your property, and hope it spreads out. In general, the best substrate for mushrooms is wood chips- so it may be possible to introduce some edible mushrooms in the shade of a mulched tree, for example.

On the california.coast we would mulch the perennial flower beds heavily in spring, and in august you could lift up the.branches to find loads.of mushrooms growing underneath. They were the obviously non- edible psychedelic mushrooms , psilocybe cyanescens, though I did sometimes find some shaggy manes, which are delicious.

[curley]

	Quote:	pilatus1
	I bought a kit once decades ago, but all it grew was mold. TBH it may have been my fault.. As far as a know, shiitake are grown on stacks of oak logs, with holes bored in them and innoculated plugs of fungus 'spawn' are hammered into the holes. Oyster mushrooms, pleurotus ostreatus, are some of the easiest of all mushrooms to grow beause the fungus will colonize almost anything. I saw a picture once of a huge crop growing out of a stack of old phone books that been sprayed with liquid innoculant. If you find a wild patch of morels, you could try digging up some of the fungus mycelium, ( the white stringy stuff) and gently move it to a similar location on your property, and hope it spreads out. In general, the best substrate for mushrooms is wood chips- so it may be possible to introduce some edible mushrooms in the shade of a mulched tree, for example. On the california.coast we would mulch the perennial flower beds heavily in spring, and in august you could lift up the.branches to find loads.of mushrooms growing underneath. They were the obviously non- edible psychedelic mushrooms , psilocybe cyanescens, though I did sometimes find some shaggy manes, which are delicious.

So do you know what those are?

[pilatus1]

	Quote:	curley
	So do you know what those are?

If I had to guess:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuc...nus_birnbaumii

[curley]

	Quote:	pilatus1
	If I had to guess: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leuc...nus_birnbaumii

Nope mine are not this pretty

[pilatus1]

	Quote:	curley
	Nope mine are not this pretty

More pics,please

[greenmount]

	Quote:	curley
	Nope mine are not this pretty

Ah, don't worry. All mushrooms are edible… but some only once.

[amogles]

	Quote:	greenmount
	Ah, don't worry. All mushrooms are edible… but some only once.

Apparently scientists have discovered there is a breed of mushroom that, if you eat them once, you will never eat anyzjing again for the rest of your life.

Of course the corrupt agro-food lobby are doing everything to keep these mushrooms off the market. Scanadalous.

[greenmount]

	Quote:	amogles
	Apparently scientists have discovered there is a breed of mushroom that, if you eat them once, you will never eat anyzjing again for the rest of your life. Of course the corrupt agro-food lobby are doing everything to keep these mushrooms off the market. Scanadalous.

But they hire those scientists via indiscreet phone calls made in train carriages! What can you expect, eh.

[DantesDame]

Any idea of what's living on the underside of my potato leaf?




As I read my own post, I'm thinking "potato beetle"

[omtatsat]

One would have more desire to post pictures but the EF's primitive rules regarding the size of the picture takes away any interest to post here!

[pilatus1]

	Quote:	DantesDame
	Any idea of what's living on the underside of my potato leaf? As I read my own post, I'm thinking "potato beetle"

Imperialistische Amikartoffelkäferli?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23929124

[legallyspeaking]

	Quote:	DantesDame
	Any idea of what's living on the underside of my potato leaf? As I read my own post, I'm thinking "potato beetle"

This sure looks like the eggs of potato beetle!

[curley]

	Quote:	omtatsat
	One would have more desire to post pictures but the EF's primitive rules regarding the size of the picture takes away any interest to post here!

While you guys always tell us size don't matter.

[meloncollie]

Words I never thought I'd utter here on the Dark Side, but:

When, oh when, will it rain? We are parched!

Meteocentrale has been promising rain these last several days, yet it never materialises. (In fact according to them it is raining now. Yet all I see are blue skies and rising temperatures. )

The garden is dry as a bone. I'm keeping up with watering the tomatoes and veggies in planters, but the rest has to fend for itself. For the first time ever in my 20 years in Switzerland the grass has gone brown.

Naja, this is nothing like a real drought, such as my family in California deal with year in year out, so I ought not to complain.

So who else will be expecting a rather large water bill this quarter?

[omtatsat]

	Quote:	meloncollie
	Words I never thought I'd utter here on the Dark Side, but: When, oh when, will it rain? We are parched! Meteocentrale has been promising rain these last several days, yet it never materialises. (In fact according to them it is raining now. Yet all I see are blue skies and rising temperatures. ) The garden is dry as a bone. I'm keeping up with watering the tomatoes and veggies in planters, but the rest has to fend for itself. For the first time ever in my 20 years in Switzerland the grass has gone brown. Naja, this is nothing like a real drought, such as my family in California deal with year in year out, so I ought not to complain. So who else will be expecting a rather large water bill this quarter?

You ever heard of using a hose connected to a water tap?

No rain here till September

[DantesDame]

	Quote:	meloncollie
	Words I never thought I'd utter here on the Dark Side, but: When, oh when, will it rain? We are parched!

My husband said to me yesterday: "I don't know why you're watering the garden; its going to rain." Yeah, right: they've been promising rain for days but it never materializes. Stays over in France, or up in Germany, but the Rhine just keeps all of those weather patterns at bay

	Quote:	meloncollie
	The garden is dry as a bone. I'm keeping up with watering the tomatoes and veggies in planters, but the rest has to fend for itself. For the first time ever in my 20 years in Switzerland the grass has gone brown.

I did what I never thought I'd have to do: I bought a sprinkler. Just a cheap one to use at the garden. Yes, I could stand there for two hours with the hose and do the same thing, but then I'd be a sunburnt bean. This way I can get some other things done while it goes back and forth. I don't intend to use it often: I'm not a vain person who needs lush, green grass. But listening to the dry blades crunch under my feet was heartbreaking

[omtatsat]

Not surprising. With global warming and the hot air coming out of Trumps mouth