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I can't imagine anything easier than growing oyster mushrooms. They are easy, however, only if you do it right. I've tried a couple of different ways to grow mushrooms at home, and I'd like to relate what I've learned.

I ordered some mushroom plugs from Fungi Perfecti and more or less followed their directions. Here is what it looked like:

As you might be able to see in the photo, I drilled holes in the log, tapped the mushroom plugs into the holes, and then covered the holes with wax. This took a fair amount of time, and may be necessary if you're growing many varieties of mushrooms. If you're growing oyster mushrooms, I don't recommend it at all. I'll explain why later.

The first thing I want to emphasize is how much you have to water your logs during the summer (in our climate, we get almost no rainfall during the summer). You need to keep the logs moist. I think this is where I failed. The photo shows them stacked up next to the garden. In retrospect, I would have put them in this location earlier, because I had to irrigate my plants anyway.

Tip #1: if you do logs, put the logs near your garden, so they're easy to keep moist.

Growing oyster mushrooms in coffee grounds

I heard from an experienced friend that growing oyster mushrooms in coffee grounds was amazingly easy.

Here's how to do it:

1. Acquire some oyster mushroom plugs (or, as I'll describe later, find someone else who is growing them and is willing to share)
   
   
2. Get a large, clear, tupperware container. Preferably about 3+ feet wide and a few feet tall as well. Make a few holes in it so oxygen can move in and out of the container.
   
   
3. Choose a spot in your garage, shed, or basement, preferably a place you pass a couple times a week.
   
   
4. Go to a coffee shop (Starbucks works well, just don't go to the one I go to!) and ask them for their used coffee grounds. Most Starbucks locations will actually give it to you packaged, which makes it even easier.
   
   
5. Open up the bag and stick a few plugs in. Bury them in the coffee grounds.
   
   
6. Close the bag up.
   
   
7. Poke holes with a pencil around the top of the bag. These are where the mushrooms will exit from when they fruit.
   
   
8. Put it in the tupperware container, and wait a month or two.
   
   

That's it. You don't have to keep it moist. You just need to check on it every day or two. You don't need to open up the bag -- you just look to see if there's a mushroom there. It's pretty foolproof.

Well, mostly foolproof. I've learned that you can't do this outside, because worms eat fungi, and they will go to great lengths to consume your fungi before it even fruits. When I've done this outside, I ended up with a bag full of worms -- not a bad thing for my garden, but not the delicious treat I was expecting. That's why I recommend doing it in the garage. It's always worked for me if I did it in my garage.

The tupperware container is to keep the spores that the mushrooms produce from going everywhere. I've read that it can be bad for your health to grow lots of mushrooms inside and be breathing the spores. I have no idea if it is true, but it's also convenient to grow them in a tupperware container. It's clear so you can see if there are mushrooms in it when you pass by.

Incidentally, worms will climb wood piles. I've seen them in wood piles 8 feet up, with the wood piles having no contact with the ground. I didn't realize worms were climbers!

So once you have this simple setup, you will get a crop of mushrooms after a couple of months (I forget how long exactly). What do you do then?

First of all, you probably want to make sure they're really oyster mushrooms. I'd check with someone who really knows (which is not me!). Here's the picture I used to get my mushrooms IDed:

Apparently, the underside of the mushroom is often what is used to ID oyster mushrooms.

Next step: eat them, of course!

After that, you will almost certainly want to grow more.

It turns out that the leftover coffee grounds are a great starter for your next batch. Just add a chunk of the mushroom mycelium into your next coffee bag, and you can keep it going. And what's left makes a great addition to your garden soil. If you have an area with a lot of wood chips, add it to the wood chips -- it may produce mushrooms for you in your garden. My experience has been that they haven't fruited in the garden or in a brush-pile. But you may have better results. And the coffee grounds are good for the soil anyway.

My eyes look a little crazy in this picture, but I'm having fun.

So what you think? Is this the easiest method ever? Have a better way, or did you do it differently? If you try this, please let us know how it goes!

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Jade You can see a photo of the box after everything is done here:
http://www.plantworking.com/updates/4da6e7c81d41c81c7d000265

This month we happened by an open house at a local sculpter and gardener. Both were really worth seeing:

This was one of the best entrances to a garden I've ever seen:

The house itself was beautiful, bordering a forest park in Portland.

I loved the sculpture in the garden. It made me realize how missing this element is from my gardening efforts:

Beautiful:

Fantastic sculpture:

I was sad to leave.

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Barbie Beautiful! So wet and wintry yet inviting. Sculpture is such a personal touch. I got rid of some saint statues in my yard when I moved in. Hope that wasn't bad karma.

Jade Thank you, Barbie!

I found the garden tour to be inspiring. I don't concentrate enough on the artistic aspects of gardening sometimes, I think!

I've done French drains the hard way: digging it by hand. It's awfully hard work.

So we looked on Craigslist and found someone who could do it in a little more than an hour. This is his crazy machine.

He lowered it into the ground, after measuring carefully.

He also used a laser to measure depth.

Another view:

And more:

Afterwards, we hauled rocks for two hours to fill up the French drain

And covered it with dirt

Looks great:

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John S Seems like a great machine. I find it hard to get exercise in the winter, which was when I made mine. I also like the blue collar aesthetic of putting it all together. French drains are great!
JOhn S
PDX OR

I love the chance to visit other people's gardens. Last night, we went to a party at an avid gardener's house, and I got a chance to wander through her garden and take some photos. She pointed out that this is the middle of November and it doesn't look its best, but I was impressed nonetheless.

Here is the view along one side of the house, a lovely path:

I had seen this plant several places, and had wondered what it was. She said it is climbing hydrangea. It grows well in shade, and she had it on a trellis.

I liked the red ladder in the corner. You see ladders occasionally in gardens, but red is a nice touch. Although I guess you have to be careful of lead?

She said she turns over the cup in the spring, for the birds.

The back patio area:

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Scott Myers Reminds me of my Aunt Marie's garden.
She was 105 when she passed away and had a great back yard, full of plants and other things. Excellent