DIY Portable Mushroom Greenhouse

Prepare a 10- to 12-inch-deep box for the mushrooms. Use large boxes for larger harvests or small boxes for more compact growing. Fill the box half full of organic compost as your growing foundation; mushrooms require rich nutrition and moisture retention for quick growth.

Choose your mushrooms. White, oyster and button mushrooms thrive in protected indoor environments and produce rich harvests for home gardeners. Inject your chosen mushroom spores, available at home and garden shops, into the growing foundation, per manufacturer directions. These spores or cultures grow into the mushroom colony, which produces the mushrooms as "fruit."

Create your own greenhouse situation in any dark cupboard or drawer. Place the mushroom box in the cupboard or drawer and set a heating pad next to it. Turn the heating pad to 70 degrees F to heat the area. Leave the mushroom culture for 3 weeks to take root.

Lay another 1 to 2 inches of compost over the soil and cover the box with a cloth. Reduce the heating pad temperature to 55 to 60 degrees F for mushroom growing. Spray the cloth and soil with water to dampen them and create a humid environment. Repeat this watering every 2 to 3 days to maintain moisture.

Look for mushrooms in 3 to 4 weeks. Leave them in the soil until their caps open and separate from the stalks, then cut them off at soil level for harvest.