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How To Grow Mushrooms Outside in Your Garden
Growing your favorite edible and medicinal mushrooms outside in a backyard or garden setting is a relatively simple process and provides you with a nutritious and low-impact source of protein over multiple years. What’s more, outdoor cultivation is less costly, less energy intensive, and produces less plastic waste than indoor cultivation. In this article we will discuss the best mushroom varieties, substrates, and growing methods for growing outdoors and offer tips for creating a diverse and productive mushroom garden throughout the year. We will cover how to make mushroom beds, logs, containers, and more.
Why should I grow mushrooms in my garden?
Mushrooms can inhabit spaces that might otherwise be overlooked or underused. Perhaps you’ve got a shady corner where your vegetables won’t grow, or you’re interested in getting the most out of your garden space. Maybe you don’t have a green thumb at all but still want to grow some delicious food for yourself, your community, or just for fun. By working with fungi, not only are you adding nutrient-dense food to your garden, but also supporting nutrient cycling and increasing soil health, giving your plants and veggies an extra boost to grow.
Outdoor mushroom cultivation, regardless of the technique employed, offers advantages over indoor methods, including:
• Less costly
• Less energy intensive
• Less plastic waste
• Less contamination
• Perennial harvests
• Enriches soil
• Feeds wildlife
Why grow mushrooms in your garden?
Mushrooms can do so much for your garden! They can inhabit spaces that might otherwise be overlooked or underused. Perhaps you’ve got a shady corner where your vegetables won’t grow, or you’re interested in getting the most out of your garden space. Maybe you don’t have a green thumb at all but still want to grow some delicious food for yourself, your community, or just for fun. By working with fungi, not only are we adding nutrient-dense food to our gardens, but we’re also supporting nutrient cycling and increasing soil health, giving our plants an extra boost to grow.
This summer, we took four common methods of growing mushrooms and adapted them for use in our research garden:
-making mushroom beds
-growing on logs
-growing on straw bales
-growing in containers
These methods are some of the easiest, most reliable ways to grow mushrooms outside. Check out our video below to see how simple it is to incorporate mushrooms into your garden!
Which mushrooms can I grow outside?
While the skill level required for each species and method (which we'll expand on further down) varies, many popular edible and medicinal mushrooms can be grown outdoors. Here are some you can consider:
What are the best ways to grow mushrooms outside?
The best ways to grow mushrooms outdoors are in garden beds, on freshly cut logs, and from reusable containers using low-cost and easily-sourced substrates. Each growing method caters to different mushroom species and substrates, and having a variety of projects will increase your chances for success and opportunities for larger harvests over successive seasons. Unlike plants, which make their own food via photosynthesis, fungi obtain their energy from other organisms in order to survive. Many are saprophytic and feed on dead plant and animal material, others are parasitic and feed off living plant or animal hosts, while some are symbiotic and exist in mutually beneficial relationships with other organisms including 90% of all land plants. Lucky for us, gourmet edible and medicinal mushrooms including Oysters, Lion’s Mane, Shiitake, and Wine Cap are saprophytes and feed on easily-obtained substrates like hardwood sawdust, wood chips, and straw. The choice of method will depend on your space, budget, species preferences, and climate. Make sure to keep your mushroom projects moist, especially in arid climates or in a drought. A heavy rain often initiates fruiting. The timeline from inoculation to mushrooms fruiting will depend on the species, spawn rate, and the density of its substrate.
Growing mushrooms in beds and mulched paths
Why keep your plants and mushrooms separate when they naturally support one another? You can grow mushrooms alongside your vegetables, perennials, or in the shade of trees. Inoculating beds and mulched paths are easy ways to bring mushrooms into your garden. These methods are inexpensive and don't require any special tools or technology - just spawn and substrate. The turn-around time from install to harvest is typically within a single season. Mushroom beds are a great way to utilize neglected corners, vacant spaces, and shadier parts of your backyard or garden while also enhancing soil through the natural decomposition process. You can inoculate your vegetable and plant beds directly, or choose a separate spot for your mushroom beds. Wine Cap (Stropharia rugosoannulata), also known as King Stropharia or Garden Giant, is especially adept at growing on wood chips. It’s resilient, adapting to different environments quickly, and can tolerate sunnier and drier conditions more readily than other species. Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus spp.) are the best choice for growing on straw. They'll quickly colonize this material and easily outcompete other microbes. Almond Agaricus work well in garden beds with composted manure. Some varieties will benefit from the addition of yard waste including hardwood leaves and grass clippings. There are many different possibilities for mushroom and substrate combinations.
Garden beds are also a way to experiment with novel substrates including agricultural byproducts like peanut shells, coffee grounds, and corn stalks. A mushroom bed will also serve as a mini compost pile, as these hungry decomposers accelerate the decomposition of woody debris to more basic elements and improve soil health. While hardwood chips work well in paths and around perennials, we recommend using straw mulch in vegetable beds. As it decomposes, straw uses up fewer nutrients in the soil than woody debris, leaving more fertility in the shallow zones where vegetable roots dwell.
Growing Mushrooms on Mulched Beds & Paths
Why keep your plants and mushrooms separate when they naturally support one another? Using the same method as making a mushroom bed, you can grow mushrooms alongside your vegetables, perennials, or in the shade of trees. Inoculating mulched paths and beds is a great way to bring mushrooms into your garden.
Wine Cap, also known as Stropharia rugosoannulata, King Stropharia, and Garden Giant, is especially adept at growing on wood chips in a backyard. It’s resilient, adapting to different environments quickly, and can tolerate sunnier and drier conditions more readily than other species.
Oyster mushrooms, on the other hand, are the best choice for growing on straw. They’ll quickly myceliate this material, easily out-competing other microbes.
While hardwood chips work well in paths and around perennials, we recommend using straw mulch in vegetable beds. As it decomposes, straw uses up fewer nutrients in the soil than woody debris, leaving more fertility in the shallow zones where vegetable roots dwell.
Easy mushroom bed method:
1. Select a 4 foot by 4 foot section of ground. Clear away any litter or garden debris down to the bare soil. We recommend one bag of sawdust spawn or grain spawn to inoculate 16 square feet.
2. Lay down a layer of cardboard. While not 100% necessary, this can be helpful when starting a bed from scratch. Not convinced? Layer half of the garden bed with cardboard and half without and see how it works!
3. Add a 1’’ layer of substrate (woodchips, mulch, hardwood sawdust, or straw) on top of the cardboard or soil.
4. Sprinkle crumbled grain spawn or sawdust spawn over the substrate layer (sawdust spawn is preferable to grain spawn if the substrate is straw)
5. Add a 2’’ layer of substrate on top of the spawn and repeat until your bed is 8-16’’ deep. Mulched paths benefit from deep layering, roughly 3-5”, while mulched beds can be lighter to keep from burying your plants.
6. Add a top layer of mulch or straw to help protect the bed from drying out.
7. Water the bed thoroughly and keep it moist. This is very important during the first two weeks and can be tapered off after the bed is fully colonized (once the bed is established, watering only needs to be done during hot, dry, drought periods).
In areas where temperatures drop below freezing in the winter, add a thick insulating layer of straw or wood chips to protect the bed. In the spring, scrape off most of the insulation layer, leaving a couple of inches. When temperatures climb, the mycelium will wake up and begin to colonize the new food source. As your garden grows, your plants will provide shade to your beds, mimicking the forest canopy of their natural environment. Broad-leaved plants like cucurbits (squash and cucumbers) would be great companions, along with soft fruits such as gooseberry and currants, and even corn.
Benefits of mycelial mulch
A major function of decomposer fungi like Wine Cap or Oyster mushrooms is cycling organic matter back into the soil. Through decomposition, they break down complex organic molecules into simpler forms that are easier to access by plants. This process helps create long-term storage of nutrients. More organic matter also means greater water holding capacity, porosity (important for clay-heavy soils), and soil structure or tilth. That’s a lot!
Mulching within your garden can also help with weed control. Less weed pressure means less need for tilling, thereby leaving the microbial soil communities intact, including mycorrhizal fungi that partner with plants. The microbiome of the soil is crucial for plant health. Research has linked healthy soils to healthy people. It makes sense - a robust microbiome in the soil, dense with nutrients, fortifies the fruits and vegetables we eat.
Wine Caps and Oysters may also act as biocontrol agents in your garden for certain pests, helping to mitigate root rot. They have the innate ability to trap, penetrate, and absorb nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus from nematodes. Check out the research here, here, and here! What's more, research has shown that Wine Cap mycelium can improve the ability of mulch to filter and remove E. coli bacteria.
Ready to make some mushroom mulch? Gather up all your materials: a bag or bags of your spawn of choice, enough mulch to make at least two layers in your path or bed, and a water source. One bag of sawdust spawn will inoculate a 4’x4’ space or around 16 square feet.
As your garden grows, your plants will provide shade to your beds - mimicking the forest canopy of their natural environment. Broad-leaved plants like cucurbits (squash and cucumbers) would be great companions.
For more detailed instructions on making mushroom beds, follow this link.
Growing mushrooms on logs
Growing mushrooms on logs is one of the oldest methods of cultivation there is. In fact, Shiitake growing originated in 12th century China and the basic process has not changed a whole lot. Log cultivation is the preferred method for growing some of our favorite gourmet edible and medicinal mushrooms including Shiitake, Lion’s Mane, and Reishi, among others. You’ll need plug spawn or sawdust spawn for growing mushrooms on logs, as well as a compatible hardwood log substrate, and some additional equipment. Once the process of inoculation is initiated, logs can be arranged in different ways and require minimal upkeep; depending on their size they can fruit for 8 years or more. We've simplified the entire process with instructional videos, step-by-step tutorials, log kits, and FAQs covering methods and spawn selection. When handling logs, ensure you have essential safety gear like gloves and eye protection, and use labels to stay organized and track your progress.
If you’re building a raised bed, you may consider using logs as a border. You can double down on your food production by inoculating those logs with mushrooms. Not only are mushrooms a great source of protein, but they also contain ergosterol, a precursor to Vitamin D. When mushrooms are dried in UV light from sunlight or lamps, the amount of Vitamin D becomes significant. You can save sundried mushrooms for broth in the winter when it’s harder to get outside. Once your logs are ready, stack them on the sides of your bed. You can bury them a little in the style of hugelkultur or mushroom rafts. The thickness of the wood will also act as a buffer to the soil, helping to regulate soil temperatures. If you have some logs that have already fruited for a few seasons, this is a great way to repurpose them. The added moisture from the soil could encourage further fruitings, and as the wood decomposes, it’ll return organic matter and nutrients to the earth.
The mushroom log-growing method summed up:
1. Obtain mushroom sawdust spawn and tools for outdoor growing
2. Harvest compatible logs
3. Drill holes in logs
4. Fill holes with mushroom spawn
5. Seal the holes with wax
6. Set logs in a place they will stay moist
7. Monitor for colonization of logs by spawn
8. Harvest and enjoy!
The mushroom pillar (totem) method:
The pillar (or totem) method allows us to grow mushrooms vertically on a column made of various materials including hardwood logs and is a common method for growing Shiitake, Lion's Mane, and Blue or Italian Oyster mushrooms. The vertical growth allows for more efficient use of space, as multiple pillars can be stacked on top of each other in a small area. You can use grain spawn or sawdust spawn for this method.
For pillars, cut logs into smaller sections: lengths 6-18” are ideal, stacked once or twice with a smaller 2” cookie on top. To inoculate, sandwich spawn between each piece of wood. Make sure to work quickly so the spawn doesn’t dry out or get exposed to direct sunlight. Stacking pillars on cardboard and covering them with a plastic or paper bag can help keep them moist and free of contaminants while the mycelium is colonizing the wood.
Just like the logs, wait until the pillars are established with a healthy amount of mycelium before installing them in a bed. It may take anywhere between 6 months and a year. Once the pillars are ready (meaning there’s a good layer of white mycelium showing up on the sapwood), they can be partially buried as borders for a raised bed.
Whenever you water your plants, you’ll be giving your logs a drink too. Fungi need moisture and love humidity.
Image credit: @DoctorGianni on Instagram
Totems
Once the totems are ready, and there’s a good layer of white mycelium showing up on the sapwood, they can be partially buried as borders for a raised bed.
Whenever you water your plants, you’ll be giving your logs a drink too. Fungi need moisture and love humidity - even if we humans don’t.
If you don’t have access to logs to create a border, straw bales can be a good option. They also provide an accessible way to grow in urban environments or areas with limited space! In traditional straw bale gardening, bales are “conditioned” by adding nitrogen-rich compost or manure to the bale to provide nutrients and initiate decomposition. You can use grain spawn in a similar way, and the fungi will facilitate the faster breakdown of the straw.
Inoculating in the spring and fall during cooler months is ideal for this method. If you live in a warmer climate or are inoculating into summer months, it’s important to consider heat. When temperatures exceed 80 degrees during incubation, the bale may get too hot for mycelial growth. Placing the bale in the shade, using shade cloth, or inoculating with sawdust spawn can keep your mushroom bale growing well as temperatures rise.
To inoculate, disperse spawn evenly on all sides of the bale, getting as close to the center as possible. It’s helpful to use a spade, hori hori, or garden fork to get deeper into the bale. We even used a pry bar to loosen it up.
While the mycelium spreads, be sure to keep the bale hydrated, watering every time you water your vegetables. Once your bale is full of mycelium, you can add soil to the center and plant into it as you would traditional straw bale gardening.
Container gardening with mushrooms
Reusable, non-biodegradable buckets, baskets, tubs, and crates are ideal outdoor settings for your mobile mushroom garden, and this method pairs well with substrates like straw, hardwood sawdust, wood chips, and our Wood Lovr hardwood substrate. Growing mushrooms in containers is more space efficient, enabling cultivation in smaller yards, balconies, and patios, making mushroom cultivation accessible to urban dwellers and those with limited outdoor space. What’s more, containers facilitate experimentation with different mushroom species, substrates, and techniques, empowering growers to refine their methods. The best mushrooms for container growing are side-fruiting varieties like Blue Oyster, Golden Oyster, Pink Oyster, and Italian Oyster, as well as Lion’s Mane.
Oyster mushrooms love agricultural waste. Straw is often easily accessible, but feel free to use whatever resources are at your disposal. We found a bag of pre-chopped straw at our local garden center. The smaller particle size is ideal for mushroom growth. If you can’t find a material like this, there are lots of DIY options for chopping straw. It’s also totally okay to skip this step. Just make sure to compress the straw a bit more to get the pieces tighter together.
The containers you inoculate in should have some airflow. If you’re using a plastic bucket, drill some holes into it. Most folks create a diamond pattern every few inches, ¼” diameter works well. Remember to put a few in the bottom, too, so excess moisture can drain out. We tried out using laundry hampers and plastic growing pots with great success. A friend even grew mushrooms out of a birdcage!
Just like with wood chips, straw needs to be hydrated. We let ours soak in a bucket for an hour with a brick on top, then let it drain until the straw only drips a drop or two when squeezed. Measuring hydration like this is referred to as checking “field capacity” and can apply to other substrates as well. If your substrate is too wet, it can create anaerobic conditions, leading to contamination. Too dry, and the mycelium won’t be able to grow. Finding the balance is simple with a squeeze test.
Once properly hydrated, we packed our straw into some containers, sprinkling spawn between each layer. The top layer should just be straw. Alternatively, you can mix your straw and spawn on a tarp and pack them all into the bucket at once. Cap it, and let it grow!
It’s easy to place these containers throughout your garden, maximizing how much you can grow in your space. Not only that, but mushrooms growing alongside your plants create a mutually beneficial gas exchange. Plants photosynthesize, so they take in CO2 and release O2, while mushrooms respirate like us, taking in O2 and releasing CO2. We’re curious about the fungi/plant gas exchange and how it could be especially useful in a greenhouse!
Once properly hydrated, we packed our straw into some containers, sprinkling spawn between each layer. The top layer should just be straw. Alternatively, you can mix your straw and spawn on a tarp and pack them all into the bucket at once. Cap it, and let it grow!
It’s easy to place these containers throughout your garden, maximizing how much you can grow in your space. Not only that, but mushrooms growing alongside your plants creates a mutually beneficial gas exchange. Plants photosynthesize, so they take in CO2 and release O2, while mushrooms respirate like us, taking in O2 and releasing CO2. We’re curious about the fungi/plant gas exchange and how it could be especially useful in a greenhouse!
Growing mushrooms in straw bales
If you don’t have access to logs to create a border, straw bales can be a good option. They also provide an accessible way to grow in urban environments or areas with limited space! In traditional straw bale gardening, bales are “conditioned” by adding nitrogen-rich compost or manure to the bale to provide nutrients and initiate decomposition. You can use grain spawn in a similar way, and the fungi will facilitate the faster breakdown of the straw.
It’s worth emphasizing that you want to use straw, not hay, for these projects. Hay has the seed heads of the grain you’re using, which will sprout and become weeds in your garden. Those seed heads can also contribute to your bale overheating or potential contamination.
Before inoculation, the straw bale needs to be hydrated. It may take up to an hour to fully hydrate, soaking up water like a sponge. And it’s going to be very heavy, so keep that in mind when you plan to place it.
Inoculating in the spring and fall during cooler months is ideal for this method. If you live in a warmer climate or are inoculating into summer months, it’s important to consider heat. When temperatures exceed 80 degrees during incubation, the bale may get too hot for mycelial growth. Placing the bale in the shade, using shade cloth, or inoculating with sawdust spawn can keep your mushroom bale growing well as temperatures rise.
To inoculate, disperse spawn evenly on all sides of the bale, getting as close to the center as possible. It’s helpful to use a spade, hori hori, or garden fork to get deeper into the bale. We even used a pry bar to loosen it up.
While the mycelium spreads, be sure to keep the bale hydrated, watering every time you water your vegetables. Once your bale is full of mycelium, you can add soil to the center and plant into it as you would traditional straw bale gardening.
Bales can even be used for season extension like a cold frame! Simply position them around a bed and place a window over the top to get some extra warmth to your plants. The bales may even heat up a bit through decomposition. When it’s fully broken down, add the bale to your compost pile or use it as a mulch around your plants.
Climate
All fungi are adapted to different climates, and our favorite edible and medicinal varieties are no different. Each is sensitive to a range of environmental conditions and some, like Pink Oyster, will not survive temperatures below zero and should only be planted outdoors after all danger of frost has passed. This is why Pink Oyster is great for container gardening, as they can be moved indoors as temperatures cool. Wine Caps on the other hand, are cold hardy and perennial in northern zones, meaning they will return to your mushroom bed year after year. If you plan to grow mushrooms outdoors, get to know your Hardiness Zone, and the particular temperature sensitivities of your preferred mushroom species.
Mushrooms and soil health
As we mentioned early in this article, growing mushrooms in your garden enriches your soil. As decomposers, our favorite mushrooms play their part in degrading complex woody materials like hardwood trees into more basic nutrients that feed other fungi, plants and microbes, building soil in the process. In fact, Wine Caps decompose woody debris faster than any other mushroom we cultivate at North Spore, quickly converting it to organic matter with greater water-holding capacity, microbe diversity, structure, and bioavailable nutrients. In one study in China, Wine Cap was found to increase available phosphorus, an important nutrient for plant growth, while another study aims to understand its filtration and disease suppression qualities. Generally, all fungi bind soil particles together, increasing structure while also reducing compaction and allowing roots, oxygen, and water to move more freely. Globally, soils contain more than three times the amount of carbon as the atmosphere. By helping to build healthy soils we have the opportunity to also help reduce the rate of climate change. So even if you don’t like to eat mushrooms, incorporating them into your backyard leads to a more healthy environment.
How do I harvest and identify my mushrooms?
How do you know when your mushrooms are ready to harvest? Once you can clearly see mushrooms emerging from your installations and are confident of their ID, you can harvest them! Mushrooms can grow very quickly, sometimes doubling in size each day. The optimal time to harvest is when the caps are still slightly curled under, just before they flatten out. At this stage, the mushrooms are nearly at the peak of their growth and will stay fresh in a refrigerator longer than any mushroom harvested past this point.
There’s a debate in mycology communities about cutting versus plucking mushrooms. Harvesting a mushroom is akin to picking an apple from an apple tree. The fungi are not harmed either by cutting or plucking. So it’s a matter of personal preference. We do recommend cleaning any dirt or debris off your mushrooms before storing them.
Though raw button mushrooms sometimes appear in salad bars, it’s important to thoroughly cook your mushrooms before eating them. Mushrooms contain the compound chitin, which also makes arthropod shells hard. Heat breaks down the chitin, making mushrooms easier to digest and much tastier! Whenever trying a new food, including mushrooms, it’s a good idea to start small. Cook and eat a little bit, wait 24 hours, and see how your body feels before consuming more.
Before eating any mushroom, it’s critical to be 100% sure of its ID. Never eat a mushroom you’re unsure of. Positive identification involves observing all of the features of a mushroom, not just a few characteristics. Folks who are just starting out can benefit from using an ID book or two, looking to ID forums on social media or consulting experts. Feel free to share photos with us if you’re ever in doubt. We ask that you include the following information when asking for help with ID: location, habitat, time of year, clear images of the cap, pore surface, and stem if present.
Oyster mushrooms (Pleurotus spp.)
All varieties of oyster mushrooms have decurrent gills or gills that are attached to and extend down the stem, and a white spore print that is sometimes visible on adjacent caps within a cluster or on the mushroom’s substrate. Their smooth caps are often fan-shaped or shelf-like, and their flesh is tender or meaty, not brittle or tough. Oysters tend to form clusters but occasionally may appear singly, especially in bed-style cultivation. Blue Oyster (Pleurotus ostreatus) has a sweet and faintly licorice-like aroma, while Golden Oysters (Pleurotus citrinopileatus) sometimes smell more floral or like watermelon. Others in this group smell meaty. The many varieties of oysters include an array of colors, and the king oyster and black king oyster will have smaller caps and thicker stems than the other oysters in the group.
Shiitake Mushrooms (Lentinula edodes)
Shiitakes have medium brown caps, tan sometimes scruffy stems, and white, mildly serrated gills. When young, a thin webby veil covers the gills, detaching with maturity. Remnants of the veil are sometimes present on the margin of the cap. Flesh is white and meaty, while stems tend to be tough and fibrous, especially with age.
Wine Cap Mushrooms (Stropharia rugosoannulata)
Wine caps have tan to burgundy colored caps, depending on exposure to sunlight and maturity. Their stems are light tan, and gills are dark violet brown, with a dark violet brown spore print. When young, a veil or annulata covers the gills, detaching with maturity with remnants sometimes present on the stem or margin of the cap. Flesh is white to light tan and firm. Wine caps have rhizomorphic mycelium resembling plant roots and may appear like thick white strands attached to the stem’s base.
Which mushrooms cannot be grown outdoors?
Not all gourmet edible mushrooms can be easily cultivated, indoors or out. Recall that some varieties grow in mutually beneficial relationships with other organisms. These include mycorrhizal species like Chanterelle, Morel, Black Trumpet, Porcini, Truffles and Matsutake (Pine Mushrooms), all of which grow in complex associations with specific tree species and foraged seasonally. That being said, we value experimentation and welcome any feedback in the growing of challenging species outdoors. Manure-loving medicinal mushrooms can also be grown outdoors, though it should be noted that psilocybin containing mushrooms are federally illegal to grow in the United States and North Spore’s products are intended for legal mushroom cultivation.
How do I deal with pests in my mushroom garden?
Lots of creatures love mushrooms as much as we do. Deer have been known to chomp on wine caps and slugs fancy shiitakes. Sometimes, small bugs called thrips will live between the gills of your mushrooms. As we harvest, we’ll use a brush to scoot off any bugs on our mushrooms, and often harvest on the younger side - to get to the mushrooms first. Some of us have had success using diatomaceous earth around mushroom installs, cups of beer, or even coffee grounds for keeping slugs at bay.
Final thoughts
Growing mushrooms outdoors is an opportunity to challenge your inner scientist, gardener, and mycologist while also providing delicious and nutritious mushrooms over multiple growing seasons. Outdoor cultivation requires the right species and substrate for your geographic area, plus some specific tools for putting them together. Whether you're a novice gardener or a seasoned enthusiast, the journey of growing mushrooms connects us to the rhythms of the natural world, a reminder of the profound rewards that come from fostering life in all its forms.
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