10/20/2025
One of the greatest strengths that many popular varieties of culinary mushrooms have is their cold hardiness. Species like oysters, lion’s mane, chestnut and shiitake (among many others) grow incredibly well at lower temperatures, right down to near freezing, with light frosts hardly phasing them at all.
Here are a few photos of blue oysters growing prolifically in the ‘compost pile’ - comprised of spent blocks that have already yielded bountiful crops indoors, continuing to flush outdoors over the last couple of weeks. The cold weather forces them to grow slowly and produce gorgeous deep blues and purples - a feature not seen during the warmer months.
The texture and density of these mushrooms is also incredible - slower growth and lower temperatures result in less moisture evaporating and less invasion by insects - which is again something that mushrooms are much more prone to when outdoor temperatures are warmer.
These mushrooms are also not watered or taken care of in any way - blocks are tossed into piles and allowed to do their own thing when they’re ready. They often wait to get rained on before flushing, and this technique allows you to get the best possible return on your investment.
Even if the mushrooms are not eaten by you, something else will definitely come along and eat them. Mushrooms and mycelium are also a prime food source for insects, which in turn provide food for higher trophic organisms like other insects, birds and rodents. This highlights how important fungi can be to revitalizing and promoting ecosystem health - not just as recyclers but as the basis of food chains.
So, if you have the space, rip that grow kit out of the bag and throw it into the corner of your yard. You may get additional mushrooms, or if you miss out on that you will be doing your local environment a favour by promoting local biodiversity and ecosystem regeneration. That’s what the fungi are all about, folks. Keep that mycelium running.
