The King Stropharia mushroom beds we created last year are starting to fruit! It's fun to watch them push through the wood chips and rise up... it will be very difficult to leave one in order to see it grow to its true potential. These delicious mushrooms are also known as the Garden Giant, and can grow rather large, imagine a small umbrella...
For now, we will harvest them at a more appropriate size of 6" in height, while the cap is still a pretty shade of burgundy wine.
This mushroom is very beneficial in a food forest, as it forms a symbiotic relationship with the plants and trees it is near, but also because pollinators love it! Check out the latest update on the Bee Friendly initiative (mycologists and entomologists team up to help bees stay healthy using fungal support), if you want to learn about some ground-breaking, bee-loving research...
