Which mushroom suits my garden? A decision tree in five questions

December is the month we get the most "which one" questions. Partly from people hunting for a gift, partly from people using winter to prepare for inoculation season. The range has grown big enough to get lost in: twenty species, available as grow kit, plug spawn or loose spawn. These five questions lead you to the right product. Answer them honestly, that works best.

Question 1: do you have outdoor space with shade?

No, only a home or a sunny balcony: then you grow indoors with a grow kit, and can skip to question 4. Yes, a garden, a shady balcony or a patch of ground: then every door is open. On to question 2.

Question 2: can you get fresh broadleaf wood?

Yes, a log, thick branch or stump of beech, oak, birch, alder, willow, poplar or elder, no more than six weeks old (see where to find it): then you want plug spawn. On to question 3. No, no wood but a border or a corner of soil: then the wine cap on wood chips is your species, full stop. No wood, no soil, but a shady balcony: a bucket of straw with oyster mushroom spawn.

Question 3: how much patience do you have?

Little, you want to see something within a year: pick a fast species. Common oyster on soft wood (alder, willow, poplar), or wood ear if you have elder. Average, a year and a half is fine if it then continues for years: shiitake on oak or beech, nameko, pioppino. Plenty, you think in years and like the unusual: maitake, reishi or chicken of the woods on a thick oak.

If you also want a winter harvest, add a branch of velvet shank whatever your patience level.

Question 4: where will the block sit?

For indoor growers. Cool, a hallway, utility room or unheated room under 20 degrees: common oyster, lion's mane or maitake. Warm, a living room with the heating on: the pink oyster, the only one that likes warmth, or the golden oyster which copes well too. A lion's mane next to the stove will not work, however much you want it to.

Question 5: who is it for?

For yourself, first time: common oyster, in whatever form. For children: pink oyster as a grow kit, see why. For a cook: lion's mane as a grow kit, or shiitake donko on a log for the patient. For a gardener: wine cap, or plug spawn of choice plus the advice to inoculate in February. For someone you are unsure about: a gift card, so they can walk through this list themselves.

The outcomes at a glance

Still stuck, or does your situation fall in between? Describe it in an email, with a photo of the spot if you have one. We will walk through the same five questions with you and tell you what we would choose ourselves. Often that is the cheapest product, and that is fine.