The Ultimate Guide to Growing Mushrooms in Canada

While endeavoring to grow as much of our own food as possible I came across a presentation on growing mushrooms at home by Fungi Akuafo and I was intrigued! I had never considered growing my own mushrooms in my zone 3, Alberta, Canada backyard garden. But as I found out, there were few reasons not to. Growing your own mushrooms in Canada at home in your backyard does not require a lot of space and building a mushroom garden out of cardboard, wood chips, and straw does not take long to do.

Red wine cap mushrooms grown in my own backyard garden in Alberta, Canada.

Growing Your Own Mushrooms in Canada

With a little effort, edible mushroom gardens make a wonderful addition to your zone 3 vegetable garden.

I was able to obtain two fungi spawn kits from Fungi Akuafo (based out of Sundre, Alberta). I planted one spawn kit of wine cap mushrooms and one of blue oyster mushrooms. The spawn kits where shipped in the mail and I stored them in our garage fridge for a few weeks until we were ready to plant.

My husband and I were like kids waiting for Santa to come, excitedly checking our mushroom garden every few days. When the mushrooms did appear it seemed almost magical, one day there was nothing there and just 3 days later there would be mushrooms grown and ready to be harvested!

Wine Cap and Blue Oyster Mushroom Substrate Kits

Choose the Right Mushroom Species

Wine cap and blue oyster mushrooms are the best mushroom varieties for beginners and both mushroom varieties grow well in Canada.

Supplies Needed to Grow Wine Cap or Blue Oyster Mushrooms in Canada

• Substrate to inoculate your mushroom bed

• 1m x 1m space to grow in

• Cardboard (or newspaper)

• Hardwood wood chips (Or 80% hardwood and 20% softwood. Do not use cedar as it is a natural antifungal wood.)

• Straw - organic if possible. Mine was not organic but I was able to confirm that the crop had not been treated with any antifungal sprays. I was told by the farmer I bought my straw from that antifungal sprays are not commonly used on crops in Alberta.

And that's it! Straw can usually be bought from any local feed stores. I was able to find untreated hardwood wood chips from a friend who does woodworking. Fungi Akuafo also sells these items on site, if you don't live too far from Sundre, Alberta.

Selecting a Location for your Mushroom Garden

Wine cap and blue oyster mushrooms can grow nearly anywhere on your property but will grow best in filtered light. Think forest floor lighting. If you happen to have an already mulched area under trees, consider building your mushroom bed there.

If filtered light is not an option, look for an area protected from sun during the hottest afternoon hours. Mushrooms thrive in conditions with consistent moisture. This can be difficult to maintain in hot, full sun conditions. Mushrooms can grow in full sun but you will need to ensure adequate moisture is provided.

Dig a foot down to build your mushroom garden.

How to Build a Mushroom Garden

1. Remove the top foot of soil in the area indicated on your spawn kit. (Mine suggested 1m x 1m for each kit.)

2. Lay down cardboard, then wet down cardboard.

3. Spread a layer of straw, top with wood chips and then 1/3 substrate. Repeat 3 times, sprinkling water on each layer as you go.

4. Top with a sprinkling of wood chips.

5. Water until fully moistened throughout the layers. Ideally your mushroom bed should be maintained to stay moist (but not soaked) when you feel an inch down into it.

6. Wait. Hopefully you will start to see mushrooms in about two months. They seem to like to appear in the cool period after a hot spell of weather.

The first layer of the mushroom garden is cardboard.

Layering straw, woodchips and mushroom substrate to build my mushroom garden.

Maintain consistent moisture in your mushroom garden.

Harvesting Mushrooms

Mushrooms can be harvested the day they appear or you can wait two more days for them to flatten out a little. To harvest mushrooms, take a sharp knife and slice off just below ground level. Store in the fridge. Use within a week, dry, or freeze.

Tip: I had thought all wine cap mushrooms were red. It turns out that there are also white wine caps! The variety Fungi Akuafo sell grows both red and white. If I had realized this we could have eaten many more mushrooms! Now I know for next year.

If you have enjoyed this post also check out my post on Building a No-Dig Garden, Composting and making Weed Tea Fertilizer.

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