Catawba County News

Advanced Gardener: Mushrooms

Published: September 11, 2019

When local gardeners discuss their crops, you’ll hear them talking confidently about tomatoes, waxing proud about little white cucumbers, and figuring out how to protect their corn from birds and raccoons. But you’ll rarely hear them sharing details about their best efforts to grow mushrooms.

The Cooperative Extension is about to change all that.

September’s Advanced Gardener classes will be introducing mushrooms as a viable crop and an addition to our existing selection of local produce. Dr. George Place, Cooperative Extension director, will present useful information about foraging as well as cultivating mushrooms in the foothills of western North Carolina.

He’ll teach participants to recognize different varieties of edible and poisonous mushrooms with the goal of having people become confident mushroom hunters. He’ll also talk about the necessary conditions and techniques to grow mushrooms at home – easily and conveniently.

To learn more about both of these strategies for adding more mushrooms to your life, attend one of the Library System’s upcoming seminars. The first takes place at 6 pm on Tuesday, September 17 at the Main Library in Newton. The second takes place at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, September 24 at the Maiden Branch Library.