My Mushrooms Look Different Than The Ones I Planted

Q: I tried growing some button mushrooms on a weathered pile of wood chips.
I just buried a mushroom every five feet around the pile. I got thin little fragile
mushrooms that didn’t look like the ones I buried. 

A: It is relatively easy to grow mushrooms at home but not the way you tried.
Mushrooms arise from mycelia (white, root-like strands) that colonize organic
material like wood chips or straw or even used coffee grounds. It is an
interesting process and a great wintertime experiment. You can grow oyster
mushrooms in a big plastic tub in which you layer sterile media and small bits
of stem from grocery store mushrooms. I don’t have space to describe the
whole process but I’ve collected links to mushroom growing guides and
videos at bit.ly/GAmushroomgrow.