How to Set Up and Grow Mushrooms & Vegetables in One Garden Bed (NorthSpore's Mycosphere)

Welcome to the Rusty Garden Homestead.

Today I want to show you how to set up

this MycoSphere from North Spore. It's

going to be a place where I can grow

mushrooms, vegetables. It's tinted, it

has a misting system, everything you

need to grow delicious mushrooms, all

kinds of different varieties. But the

metal raised bed that it comes with is

large enough to also grow vegetables.

I'm going to show you the basic build.

It's not a formal instructional video,

but I want to show you how I set it up,

a couple of tips, and then I'm going to

show you how I plant the mushrooms in

there. This is going to be a beautiful

place just outside my house to grow and

harvest mushrooms and also have

vegetables. Let's get started by taking

just a quick look at what's going on in

here, then we'll get to the build and

the planting of the mushrooms. This is

what I'm setting up today. Use the links

in the video description if this is

something you're interested in. North

Spore has all kinds of mushroom kits

that you can grow indoors, outdoors, and

all kinds of different setups to grow

those mushrooms. I am really excited

about this. It's sitting in a

predominant place in my garden so that I

can keep an eye on it. But what I really

like about this is there's an automated

misting system that comes along with it.

So it's going to keep everything

moist. One of the keys, and I want to

stress this and I'll be stressing

throughout the video, one of the keys

for growing mushrooms is to make sure

that the growing medium stays moist.

They can take cold temperatures,

freezing ground, some of the varieties,

most of the varieties, but they really

need moisture. So even if you're setting

up in the sunny area,

you can use the greenhouse

plastic that comes with this. Has an

insect fabric and it also has a shade

cloth. So you can really set this up

anywhere. Set it up with mushrooms. I've

put in

three different kinds of oyster

mushrooms. You just set the fruiting

block below the shredded hardwood in

this case or wood chips, a golden enoki,

if I'm saying that right, and then I've

also set up along in the back in that

row right there,

wine cap sawdust mushroom spawn, which

means basically I just sprinkled the

sawdust spawn through there and I'm

going to have winecaps coming up in

here. In the back, I have peppers, kale,

and onions, things that I'd like to

saute with my mushrooms. So, this is

going to be a nice little growing area.

Let me show you how I set all of this

up.

I'm really excited to set up my

microsphere from North Spore. You're

going to get two boxes.

Boxes are a little bit beat up. They

were delivered in the rain. Box one,

you're going to have your raised garden

bed. You're going to get your misting

system and the misting timer. I will put

all this information in the video

description, too. Then, you're going to

get your garden bed frame cover, a bug

netting, shade cloth, and greenhouse

plastic in the other box. I'm going to

be able to grow mushrooms here really

while the temperatures allow. I don't

think they do much in the dead of winter

here, but the whole system is going to

fit right into this corner. I will show

you the build, show you how I set it up,

and then over the years, really, please

subscribe. I'll show you what I'm

growing in here, how I set it up. I'm

going to grow a mix of mushrooms and

vegetables and herbs in there. So, I'm

going to be using the bed for multiple

purposes, but mushrooms are just

something wonderful you can add to your

garden. I'll also link in the video that

shows you how I set up the back of my

garden last year with wood chips, wood

pellets, and mushroom spawn from North

Spore. And I get mushrooms popping up

there throughout the summer now. You

just have to keep them fed, so to speak,

with uh shredded wood, wood pellets, and

the mushrooms keep coming back year

after year. All right, let me unbox this

and we'll start building everything

right in that space. This is a case, and

you'll see through the video, of do as I

say, not as I do. So, first thing,

you're going to get your box. You're

going to see this big red square that I

missed says documents enclosed. You're

going to find these beautiful

instructions, QR code, full video

instructions on how to put this

together. I recommend watching it.

Step by step all the way through

all the way to the timer.

Instructional video on how to program

it. But, this is all you need to make

sure you don't make couple mistakes like

I made on the way. Didn't it turn out to

be that big of a deal?

But, these But, these instructions will

guide you through every step of the

build. Here's what's in the first box.

The metal raised bed, the misting system

comes with a timer. And I'm going to be

setting up the configuration to look

just where my knife is pointing, right

at that one. That's really the standard

configuration that I use a lot for my

metal raised beds in general. But, it's

perfect for setting up the microsphere.

And again, you can grow mushrooms in

here. You can also grow vegetables, a

combination of both, and I'm going to be

doing both.

It's 4:00 p.m. now, and the sun actually

rises behind me, and then tracks all the

way out there south,

and then around. And you can see some

shades coming in. Because I'm growing

mushrooms, I just didn't want this

sitting in the sun. I can get 8 to 10

hours out in my main garden. So, we're

going to get at least 6 hours of sun

here.

But, shade begins to roll in. It

actually comes from my nectarine tree

right over there. If you look up, you

can see it.

Perfect, I think, for the combination of

growing vegetables because it gets the

6-plus hours of sunlight, but it doesn't

bake in the sun, you know, the whole

day.

Now, this space right in here is going

to be a little bit tight. When you do

place this, you want to be able to get

into the front of it and the back of it.

The flaps lift up, makes it easy to tend

everything. I'm going to be okay

because, you know, I can reach in from

the front and gather everything. And I

don't mind if it's a little packed. I'm

trying to utilize all the space in my

area, so I do want to grow something

right in here. But, it is going to be a

little bit tight.

All right. So, I guess I was a little

bit

overly optimistic if this was going to

fit right where I wanted it. Now, the

bad news is I'm going to have to move

it. The good news is this is much bigger

than I thought it was going to be. So,

for the price of everything that you're

getting, I really think it's worth it.

This is going to be a huge growing space

for mushrooms and, you know, for even

the addition of extra vegetable plants

or herbs in there, too. So, I'm going to

have to move it

to the front here and then, you know,

probably dig out some of this grass.

But, it's going to go right into this

space. It's really, really

large, which I'm really happy about. I

took out the greenhouse um

cover,

which is spectacular in itself that it's

got strings going through there. You can

see those checkers. I'll talk more about

that. But, those squares really

reinforce the plastic that's going to

last forever.

The bed's assembled, not quite in the

place that I wanted it to uh go. It just

never would have fit right over there.

But, I am really impressed with the

size. Sometimes when you see things

online, you're not really sure how big

they are. But, this is a great space.

This is a really big metal raised bed

and you're going to be able to grow so

much in there.

So, I'm happy with the place. The other

thing you want is make sure you can get

a hose to it because you want to hook up

the misting system. So, you don't want

it too far away from the property

property. And it's also close enough to

my house that I can just come out here,

get mushrooms as I need them, and it's

not, you know, sitting on the other side

of the yard. Again, I want to show you

all the sunlight coming into my garden,

but in this area that I picked, it does

get that 6-plus hours of sun,

but the shade rolls in later on and I

think that will benefit the mushrooms.

I'm also going to be growing uh kale in

here with this because I like mushrooms

and kale uh and eggs for breakfast. I

kind of saute that all together. So, I'm

going to grow the vegetables and even

some herbs, probably, that best support

the mushrooms and how I use them. The

bed's fully assembled.

Put down the edging on here to protect

from sharp edges. That's great. And to

set up

the beginning of the filling,

cardboard, put down two, three layers,

whatever you want.

That's perfect for keeping the weeds

down. That'll break down. Worms will

love it. The mycelium of and the fungi

love that, too. You can put down

firewood. All right, I'm going to call

it a night. It's 8:00. I'll finish the

rest in the morning. Just wanted to show

you what it looks like with the top

soil. And this is just

cheap bags

of top soil like this. I think it was

like

I don't know, $2.99, maybe $3.25. Took

five bags to pour into there. Has a lot

of wood chips or wood particles in

there. It's not great top soil for like

growing seeds and transplants in, but

perfect for this. And it's perfect for

whether it's mushrooms or

you're going to grow food in here. At

the bottom, this is perfectly fine. That

bottom

portion, like that bottom quarter, even

third, can be

you know, not the best stuff. This is

all going to break down. It's going to

hold moisture. It's going to give

nutrients back. The deep roots of

the vegetable plants will get to it,

pull moisture out of there. It's not

going to do any kind of harm. If you had

all this stuff up higher,

where the root systems are, it's going

to cause problems. But down there at the

bottom, no worries. Just the cheapest

way, I think, to begin to fill these

raised beds that have higher sides.

Firewood,

cheap top soil,

ready for the next step in the morning.

Okay, day two.

Have a lot of the shredded hardwood in,

and I'll talk about how it's lower on

one side, higher on the other side.

I just want to be clear. I'm going to be

experimenting with different mediums for

growing mushrooms, with wood pellets,

straw, hay, um the shredded hardwood.

What's recommended is just wood chips.

You can use a company called ChipDrop.

They will drop chips to your area

most of the time for free, and you can

get plenty of the wood chips to fill the

beds, and mushrooms do well with it.

Mushrooms do vary sometimes on what they

grow best with the different substrate.

So, I'm using triple or I'm sorry, I'm

just using plain old shredded hardwood,

which is good to work. It's higher in

the front because that's where the

mushrooms are going to go.

And there's all different ways that you

can

set the mushrooms up in your bed. I'll

be talking about that in a little bit.

In the back,

I put some shredded hardwood down there.

That's going to hold moisture, but

that's where the soil is going to go. If

I step over here,

you can probably see it a little better.

That's where the soil Yeah, the soil

will go for the kale and some of all of

the other vegetable plants. And you

could do this either way. You could do

like

a third this whole section for mushrooms

down the center, more soil for

vegetables, then another third, you

know, for mushrooms or something like

that.

Next step, I'm going to pour some soil

into here, bring everything up,

and that'll pretty much be it. But

again, I just want to stress best thing

to fill your beds with

are the wood chips. You can get them for

free. Um but there's a lot of different

ways that you can fill that, and you can

do some research and just figure out how

you want to do it.

Check out some of the linked videos for

filling raised beds. I have a lot of

them.

Just wanted to show you the next step. I

was going to skip it and just fill it,

but now I've put in the lesser quality

topsoil, and this is great for this

depth, you know, down to here. You

really want the top 6-8 inches

um 15-20 centimeters to be the quality

stuff. So, in the middle, it's you know,

not the best topsoil, but it's going to

be okay. But now I'm going to put in the

quality stuff along here.

Be great for all the shallow roots of my

vegetables, and then the kale and the

onions or whatever I'm planting are

going to go right along the space. Going

to leave enough room to bring mulch all

the way over cuz I'm going to be putting

in transplants

and some mushrooms like wine caps will

grow right into the wood mulch that I'm

covering the soil with.

But there's soil underneath

for my vegetable plants.

This is a mushroom fruiting block. This

is a king trumpet mushrooms.

You can get these at North Spore. All

kinds of different uh fruiting blocks

are available and this is going to get

sunk right into this fresh hardwood and

I'm going to get mushrooms. This is like

the quickest way to do it. It's really

simple. I'm also going to be putting

down grain spawn. I'll show you what

that is of the wine cap mushrooms and

that's going to go mixed into the

hardwood and again

shredded hardwood works. Wood chips is

probably the best. You can create

different mediums.

But you can see I got or have

the space for my vegetables

space for the mushrooms. Going to do

some fruiting blocks, some grain spawn.

And I will show you towards the end of

the video the planting of the back

and all the mushrooms that I'm putting

in and that's going to be the start. All

right, let me get back to setting up the

microsphere.

Next is setting up the frame for the

cover system and you get insect cloth,

shade cloth and that's the greenhouse

canopy I opened up. It is really nicely

made. It has the string in there which

create the checkers which give it

strength. That's not going to tear.

It's really nicely designed. When I open

this up, first thought was were these

going to be plastic or metal? They're

metal.

Perfect. That's what you want. All

right, so word of caution

and for whatever reason I was just

excited to fill this bed and decided all

right, I'm going to just going to fill

it first as the next part of the video.

Now that I'm going to put in the frame

for the

canopy and the shade cloth and all that

you really should do this before you

fill it. So maybe I saved you a

headache. It's not going to be that big

of a deal. I'll be able to dig out where

the post have to secure to the inside of

the metal raised bed, you know.

My loss of time because I didn't take

the time to look at all the different

parts. Now you know. So I'm going to set

that up. But the frame looks like it,

you know, just goes together real

quickly. Metal. It's going to sit here.

It's going to support anything that

you're going to put on it. And because

it's metal, it's going to last for a

long time. All right, let me fix my

mistake and get this together. The

biggest tip I have for assembly is right

there where my finger is. You can see

a little tongue. And right there is the

groove. It's going to assemble this way

and you have to apply a little bit

of pressure and it slides together.

Make sure that this isn't turned over

cuz if you try and do that, the tongue

up top

right here gets caught on here and it

doesn't work. So you want it to look

just like that.

Tongue right there.

Slides together.

And then you end up making your piece

that's going to be the top part of the

frame. And then I'm going to be

fastening the curves right onto that. So

to attach the part of the frame that

goes on the inside of the bed

and creates the frame, you're going to

just match hole one

and hole three

with

hole one and hole three here. You know,

it's really easy. You know, I screwed up

but I could just dig the mulch away.

However, and and again just to clarify,

you're using the longer bolt that comes

with the frame kit for obvious reasons

that when you add this piece, you need a

longer bolt to get all the way through

and come out. And you're going to use

the nut that comes with the metal raised

bed. So just keep that in mind.

Two different bolts. Larger bolt for

attaching the frame.

The frame's completed. Didn't take long

even with

me having to dig out some of the soil

and attach it the right way. It is solid

metal.

Wind's not going to damage this. If snow

falls or

water's coming down, it's going to run

off because of the design. It's going to

hold the weight. It's perfect. Just a

quick tip, when you're assembling

the pieces right here, there's a little

plastic lip right there. Make sure

that's pointing outward. Um it just

makes it a little bit easier and then

the front is

this part. So, that's the part that's

going to go point out from the metal

raised bed.

But, it is solid. Next step, let's put

up the misting system.

Next step is the misting system and it's

always good to laugh at yourself. So,

here are some beautiful instructions

with a little QR code that will take you

to a video so you can see how to

assemble this.

And it's wonderful. However,

I didn't notice the big red square that

said

documents enclosed.

And I just opened it up and I was using

other instructions that were inside

and they're just not as clear as this.

So, make sure you get the right set of

instructions. It will take you through

it, tell you everything you need to do.

Coming over to the misting system,

I'm making sure that I

kind of

broke them down into pieces. The tubing

are different sizes. You have the clips.

You have the regulator, the timer to

manage when the misting comes on.

You have the mister system there.

And with the little nozzles and then you

have a splitter. And I'm just going to

follow the instructions, put this

together real quick. Again, beautiful

instructions are there.

Check out the QR code. It will show you

how to set this up.

This is my pup Willow. She's 5 years

old. She's a Bernedoodle.

And she just hangs out with me as I do

different projects. She's very, very

curious.

The spray system is all set up. It was

pretty easy. Used the instructional

videos.

This is basically what it looks like

when you're clipping them in and you're

just assembling the hose, putting it all

around.

And then over here

we have

the regulator, which is also an

instruction video that will help with

the timing and spraying and all that,

setting it up, programming it. I'm going

to leave all the extra tubing there for

now till I figure out how I want to set

up this space

with the watering so that I can, you

know, direct it towards my garden. I've

got my greenhouse to the left and then I

also have to have the water flowing here

the whole time

because this is going to

um run, you know, throughout the day.

But you can program it to

really, I think, whatever you want. All

right, so the next step really

is to hook up the water, see how it

goes.

The mister's working. I have it set for,

I think, like 20 seconds, so it's going

to turn off. You can adjust

the angle by just pointing it down, so

you're going to want to figure that out.

But it looks pretty good. It's ready to

go. I think I'm going to put on the

insect cover

because I have this white moth that

flies around, lays eggs on my kales and

my brassicas. Don't want them getting

into the kale that I'm going to be be

planting down there.

So, let's plant this up, talk a little

bit more about the microsphere, and

please subscribe and follow me. I'll

show you how everything grows in here,

how I change out the different tops,

greenhouse, shade cloth,

insect fabric,

combine them together. I think I will

put the insect fabric down and maybe the

greenhouse over that because it's still

a little bit cool here at night. It will

help out the vegetables.

But just take a look.

Mist looks good. Set it for however you

want.

Okay, I'm ready to grow. I think this is

the best part. We're going to do the

planting now.

These are plant and grow mushroom

starter blocks. They go right into

the uh shredded hardwood or the wood

chips, whatever you're using. I think I

showed you earlier a fruiting block. Um

I think that would actually work in

here. I think they're similar. But,

they're really used indoors, and I have

an indoor system set up for that. I'm

going to drop in four starter blocks.

This is a blue oyster mushroom,

pink oyster mushroom, and this is the uh

snow oyster right there. And this is a

variety of mushroom I've not grown

before. This is a golden enoki, all from

North Spore. And check out the video

description for my code and link. You'll

save some money. This is wine caps.

These are That That's actually a bag of

mushroom sawdust spawn, which I'm just

going to sprinkle into the shredded

hardwood here, and also populate

all the mulch around here. I'm going to

put down the sawdust spawn, and then

mulch on top of that some what wood

pellets, and I will actually get wine

caps all over the place, and they will

spread and move through the mulch. So,

this is going to be a major planting

area for my mushrooms.

In the back here, let me step over this.

In the vegetable section, I'm going to

put in five peppers. That's going to be

banana pepper, a mini red bell,

that's going to be a full-size red bell,

other multiple-colored mini bells, and

another banana pepper. Kale is going to

be dropped in between some of the

peppers, and then onions are going to go

in a line in the back. And that's what

I'm going to grow vegetable-wise for now

in this space. Let me get this all

planted. The vegetables I have plenty of

videos on. I'm just going to put them

in. I will show you how to set up a

plant grow mushroom starter block in the

shredded hardwood.

Peppers are in. I did five pepper

plants, four dwarf blue curled kale, and

some Granex white onions in the back.

That's going to be perfect to go along

with the mushrooms. And again, please

subscribe, follow me. I've been doing

this for 15 years. Every year,

beginning in January, I just do a

real-time video series really from

January 1 to the end of December.

Seed starting, taking care of plants,

planting, transplants, everything you

can think of done in real time.

For the

Plant N Grow Mushroom Starter Blocks,

you're just going to dig a hole

that

will set the block.

You don't want to break it like I just

did there. Gently place it in there

so that it's deep enough so that you

going to have about 1 to 2 in, 2 1/2 to

5 cm of the mulch over it.

After all these are in,

one tip that I have

is to really soak

your bed down. Moisture

is what mushrooms need most. I mean, you

don't want to sit in soaking water. This

is going to drain, but you really want

to

totally hydrate all the wood that you're

using or whatever medium you're using.

And this is going to be perfect

for

the oyster mushroom. I'm going to go

through and do the rest of them.

Label them up so I know what I have

growing,

and then we'll uh conclude.

Here's another Plant N Grow block, and I

am just dropping it in there again,

about 2 in over there.

And I want to stress one more time, soak

everything in nicely.

Fourth block is going to go right here.

And over in this corner, I've actually

made my own fruiting blocks. I'll talk

more about that depending on how

successful they are. But I'm going to

put in some of my own mushroom blocks,

and then right in the middle, we'll

finish up with putting down the grain

spawn.

Well, actually this is sawdust spawn.

There's also grain spawn, but this is

the wine cap sawdust spawn, which is

just going to get mixed into the top 6

in of the remaining shredded hardwood,

and the mushrooms will grow that way.

Wine caps are really easy to grow. I

will link a video in the video

description that shows you how I set up

my paths in the back with wine cap uh

mushroom sawdust spawn.

There are a lot of ways to do If you're

like doing a fresh area like right in

there, which I'm going to do in another

video, I am just going to scatter it

down, rake it in, and then maybe put

down some cardboard,

um maybe some wood pellets, and then

another inch or two of the hardwood

mulch on top of that. And that's really

going to work.

You can do it again all kinds of

different ways. Um just from experience,

what I want to do here is I want to dig

a trench

I don't know, about 4 in 10 cm deep. And

I'm going to put in my first handful

of the sawdust spawn. It's going to

crumble. You don't really have to worry

that much about the size. Don't over

pulverize it, but just go ahead and drop

it in. And then I'm just going to mix

that in

real quick

and help, you know,

get it down a little bit deeper. I like

using hardwood pellets.

They are dry. You're going to need to

put in a lot of water.

You could do it now and they'll expand,

they'll turn into sawdust.

Wine caps really seem to love it. A lot

of the mushrooms do. My own fruiting

blocks that I make with the oyster

mushrooms,

I'm using

boiled water

and pouring it into these wood pellets

and I'm making my blocks. So I would go

through

and just

do something like that.

Come in at this point.

I have my hose here. Excellent. Because

I'm going to put some cardboard on top

of here.

And if I put the cardboard on and I

don't

soak it in, these aren't going to expand

cuz the cardboard will will shield it

for a while.

So I'm just going to soak everything in

really well.

When I'm done, I'm going to go through

and do the same thing right over

the plant grow blocks that I put in the

ground and just make sure there is a lot

of moisture in here. That is going to be

the key. I've said it I think,

you know, three, four times already.

You don't have to come in and water this

every day, but you want to keep an eye

on the moisture. When everything is

growing, I'll be using the misting

system.

But for now,

I just want to get a lot of water in

there. Put down the cardboard. We're

using the box that everything came in.

And I'm just going to press it down like

that.

All the way across.

Another quick handful.

Of the sawdust spawn.

You know, notice.

Nothing fancy. I should probably just

press it down so it's a little bit more

even.

And then I'm going to add in

some more of the mulch.

Going to throw in

a couple more handfuls

of the hardwood.

And this is just to really help get

the wine cap

mycelium established.

I'm not even going to need to use the

whole bag.

Come through.

Let me get this out of the way.

Couple big pieces up here, that's fine.

And then I'm just going to mix it

through and cover it over.

Let me cover this over and I'll show you

the final watering.

How exciting. I have the greenhouse

cover on. I'm going to go with that.

Going to leave the front open cuz I

don't want everything to bake in there.

But that should keep the moisture in and

it's cooler here, so this will work out

nicely. I wanted to show you the

watering.

And I'll just do a corner here

in real time.

But you really want

to soak in all of your mulch.

If it's wood chips, it even holds less

water than the shredded hardwood.

And moisture is the friend

to your mushrooms.

So,

the park could even use more right in

here. But something like that, that's

where the first block of oysters are.

Wine caps.

But it just

give a nice slow

drenching.

And watering is really what I get asked

a lot about. It's

might be in the top three of the

questions I get all the all the time.

How much do I water? And there's no real

answer to that. So, I'd like to show,

you know, in real time how much water is

actually going on a specific plant or in

this case, mushrooms.

So, that's well soaked.

I had to get in there water on my

vegetables.

So, again, please subscribe. I'll show

you how things grow

in the microsphere. I think it's going

to be great. I have four types of

mushrooms in. I have wine caps and I'm

putting in my own experiment over here.

Please check out the video description

for my link to North Spore. And oh,

perfect timing. You see that the wind's

blowing that up.

It does come with everything you need to

secure your covers down. So, that's not

going to be an issue.

And again, please use my link to North

Spore and my code to save some money.

And I hope you enjoy growing mushrooms

in your garden. Thanks so much for

watching.