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Sunday, September 8, 2013

Mush Mush Mush Mushrooms

This past summer was wet, a lot wetter than previous summer since we moved to South Carolina.  Besides the joy of not having to worry about watering plants, we enjoyed a bumper crop of mushrooms.  They were varied, colorful and popped up in multiple places... everywhere except the logs that I had inoculated with mushroom spores after hearing Tradd Cotter from Mushroom Mountain give a talk to the Master Gardeners.  I shared with you how I drilled the logs and plugged them here.
These inedible ones popped up in the mulch in the backyard that had reddish caps.

Some where wide and white, peeking out along the rocks-

Some were wavy and orangish in the pinestraw-

The gills were open -


Some looked a little dirty-



This one had a yellow tint to its upturned cap--


What does this one look like to you???


I marvel at how different they all are, this one's cap is kind of fuzzy looking-


These little ones were all lined up-
looks like the snails like mushrooms.  

Aren't they cute?


This one looks as if the cap is part of the stem--



This is the gnarliest one I found in the yard.  Almost looks like a pinecone.  


Finally, a year after plugging the logs, I finally found an edible mushroom!!  I was sure this was a Shiitake, up until it was time to eat it.  I had to send a picture to Tradd for verification.  Call me a scaredy cat..or cautious, but I wanted to be sure!!!  This is the first one I had harvested --waiting for them to start popping. 



Looks like some"body" took a bite of my first mushroom!  Do you grow mushrooms?  How long did it take for you to harvest the first one?   I also plugged some Oyster mushrooms, waiting on them to appear.

©Copyright 2013 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

17 comments:

  1. I am fascinated by mushrooms. I grab my camera whenever I see a new one popping up in the garden. The one that looks like a pine cone is so cool! I would be scared to eat any unless I knew for certain what it was. I would have to become a lot more educated on the world of fungi first.

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  2. That pinecone mushroom is totally cool! I have never seen one like it before. I agree: mushrooms are fascinating...and I don't blame you at all for sending that photo to verify identification before eating the shitake. In fact, I call that the better part of valor!

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  3. Janet, your pictures are great! I miss mushroom hunting/picking. It's a great outdoor activity!

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  4. Dear Janet,
    as we gardeners know: plant do as they like... I love your varieties of photos - and of muhrooms! To hunt them is fun - though I only collect three sorts which I am absolutely sure I know.

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  5. I have seriously thought about growing Shiitake mushrooms. We certainly have the climate for it but I'm sure I would have to "fight" the critters for them.

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  6. We gather them in the woods and along the roadside. An illustrated handbook helps with ID, but we still are a bit timid about tasting. Those white ones with the slug bites look like Shaggy manes, one of the most delicious of all.

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  7. What a lot of cool different types of mushrooms! And your photos of them are fantastic, Janet. I keep thinking there must be fairies dancing around them at night:)

    We had some huge ones in our front yard a month ago that I never got around to photographing before the mower took them. Unfortunately, it's been so dry here for the past month that I haven't seen a single one in quite awhile.

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  8. Those are great! Especially that pineconey one. It's been a great year for fungi, hasn't it? I'm glad you got shiitakes, even if it took a while. I keep meaning to try that, too. BTW, we got to hear Tradd speak at Cullowhee! You really should go next year...I bet you would LOVE it! Just sent you an email about seeds...sorry to be so slow!

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  9. So many mushrooms! It has been a good year for them. I think the yellow one is most cheery.

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  10. What a great variety of mushrooms you have there. I love looking at all the different kinds of mushrooms but like you, would be a scaredy cat to eat anything without some help identifying. Funny your logs didn't sprout any more than one, maybe it just takes more time for the log to break down?

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  11. I am fungi ignorant but I love all the different ones that show up in fall after all the rain. They are just gorgeous.

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  12. You have quite a crop of mushrooms. I'll have to go back and read your post about inoculation. Hey--maybe you should look into truffle growing! There's a place near us (Harland truffles) who sells the trees inoculated. Takes six years to harvest (I think).

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  13. We too had many different types of s'hrooms popping up on a daily basis all summer long! It amazes me how quickly they show up and how quickly some seem to disappear as well. I see the squirrels eating some of the large white ones. They are all so unique but the ones I don't care for are the ones that hold a dusting of sorts. We use to call them Devils Boxes when kids but not sure what they are really called...

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  14. That's a lot of different mushrooms in one yard! How cool! But I don't blame you for being cautious about eating them. I've heard that mushrooms are a sign of healthy soil.

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  15. I have acquired a new found appreciation of all thing fungal. I share an office with a self-taught authority on the subject. She just lights up when anyone brings her some strange thing from the garden and she is quick to say what it is or grab one of her references to look it up. Funny though, she won't eat any. My favorite this year has been the stink horns, they have inspired me to create a garden next year in their colors of chocolate brown, salmon and pink.

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  16. An amazing array of fungi, I'm not surprised you wanted to double check your first harvest was the right type to eat though, they can pack a lethal punch for such small (mostly) organisms. I hope you get a better crop though, all that work drilling and filling should be rewarded.

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  17. Was someone on their belly to get these shots?
    Ray

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