Hey crew,
Checking in. Planted lots of things since last time. Here’s some of what’s come up:
- Apple trees (36)
- Olive trees (12)
- Elderberry trees (20)
- Black locust trees (8)
- Tomatoes (24)
- Hot peppers (12)
- Spinach (12)
…and a few others. The seeds have been battling a cold spring and little critters nibbling at tips in their makeshift greenhouse.
Altogether, I planted about a hundred species of trees, herbs, vegetables and mushrooms. (Ordered seeds online at www.treeseeds.com, www.rareandexoticseeds.com and www.growingorganic.com, ordered spores here www.reddit.com/r/sporeswap and the local supermarket.)
I wrapped the seeds in wet paper towels and put them in the fridge from anywhere between a few days to a few weeks, depending on how dense the seed appeared. Then I planted seeds in trays of loose soil. 
Seeds in paper towels, labeled, folded, moistened, placed
and loosely wrapped in plastic sandwich bags, placed in tupperware placed in fridge.
Check seeds once a week. Look for sprouting.
For the first few rounds of planting, I planted in seed trays outside, no cover. To improve germination, I made small hoops with electrical pvc pipe and laid a sheet of plastic over the top to provide warmth. Seeds appeared to grow more once covered.
I’ve also been growing mushrooms in my closet, or trying to grow them. Made a lab with a desk and shelf and a large sheet of plastic separating the space from the room to keep the space clean.
I started by collecting spores from mushrooms I got at the supermarket. I also ordered spore prints online for about a dozen kinds of mushrooms. Myers mushrooms channel on youtube and www.freshcapmushrooms.com have good videos.
Spore print ordered online
Procedure goes as follows:
Prepare agar in petri dishes
Transfer spores to petri dishes. Wait 3 weeks. Mycelium grows.
Transfer mycelium to jars filled with sterilized rye grain. Wait 3 weeks. Mycelium grows.
Transfer mycelium to bags filled with pasteurized straw. Wait 3 weeks. Mycelium grows.
Here’s a short video pulling up straw after pasteurization. Got the idea from Tony at Fresh Cap Mushrooms.
The first batch made it from spore to dish to jar to bag… and the mycelium appeared to be growing well. Then the temperature dropped outside and growth seemed to halt. I have a bunch more jars coming along in the closet. I plan to keep cycling them through.
Still many seeds to bring into the world and months of good weather ahead.
Here’s a log of everything planted so far:
Happy summer
Onwards