"Just living is not enough... One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower." -Hans Christian Andersen

Let there be light! Ok, a little dramatic but the cloudy and rainy days seem to be behind us this week. Everyday has been positively beautiful with the sheer abundance of sunshine and with the sun comes some wonderful growth as well as some new beginnings. 

This past week, I added some new additions to the garden. I planted a Limelight Hydrangea in the front garden. Although it currently has no blooms, it has strong and healthy leaves, and I can't help but envision how beautiful it will look when it reaches maturity. I have great confidence that it will be stunning when the time comes.

The Phlox in my garden are still in full bloom and seem even more vibrant in the sunlight. The different shades of purple are so wonderful to look at that I find myself sitting on my porch just staring at these wonderful blooms. Even the Azalea that was already established when we moved in is trying to catch up to the Phlox and is starting to show signs of blooming. The entire shrub is full of tiny pink buds getting ready to embrace the world.

With all these blooms happening in the front garden, it is actually a little disheartening to see that the Scotch Moss hasn't improved this week. I still have quite a large clump of brown moss amongst the green sprouts coming in. I thought maybe it was deficient in nutrients or perhaps not getting enough water. So, I replenished the soil around the moss and gave it some plant food when I last watered it. I guess I'll just have to patiently wait to see if my efforts to care for it have been in vain.

For the past few weeks, I haven't had any updates on the mushroom bed, but this week things have changed! I finally got the courage to look under the first layer of straw to see if anything was happening underneath since it's been about a month since I first laid down the bed. To my surprise, there was mycelium growth happening down below! These beautiful white strands of hair are actually the cells propagating the straw bed! I even checked in another spot and saw a whole cluster of mycelium that will no doubt form the base for some beautiful Blue Oyster mushrooms. At that moment, I couldn't have been happier. I was so happy that I had to text my husband a picture - indeed, I was the proudest mushroom mama.

Now for the rest of the garden: the broccoli and lettuce have had a little bit of growth this week, but not as much as I was expecting. Although the stalks of the broccoli are growing wider and stronger, so I'm pretty sure I'm on the right track. I'm a little unsure about the broccoli, though. I've never actually grown broccoli before, so it has been a definite learning experience. I'm not all that confident that I'll even get actual broccoli, but I'll just have to go with the flow and follow my garden's instinct. But that's my rule of thumb with a lot of things I grow in the garden - I just like to try new things, constantly challenging myself and learning.

That’s how this year I somehow found myself planting corn for the first time ever. Yes, this week I sewed my very first couple of rows of corn. Again, it’s one of those things I don’t know if it’s going to entirely work out, but how will I know unless I try? Hopefully, when it starts growing, I’ll have something new to share with you all.

The potatoes are still doing as well as ever, with even more growth this week. The plants in the bed have gotten larger and are really filling out their section quite nicely. I really haven’t had to do much of anything with the potato plants, basically just watching them grow. Especially the Huckleberry Gold potatoes - they are really taking off in their grow bag. The leaves have doubled this week and are actually really beautiful to look at. The leaves have a touch of purple strewn throughout the deep green, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. In general, I’ve been feeling very confident with my potatoes thus far. I was feeling so confident that I decided to get French Fingerling potatoes. I know what you're thinking - do I really need a fourth variety of potato? The answer, of course, is yes, yes I do. They say variety is the spice of life, and I intend to live the fullest life, so why not fill my life with potatoes? Potatoes are very delicious!

Anyway, I think I rambled on enough about this week, I know I didn’t touch on everything but that’s ok. There isn’t anything else worth reporting, even about the some of things that were sprouting last week. Not enough progress was unfortunately made and I don’t want to bore you to death talking about the same pea shoot week after week. Don’t worry, whatever wasn’t discussed I’m sure I’ll talk about it next week.

But to discuss business in the coming week, I do intend to get my last two beds all set up and squared away. My seedlings that I started indoors back in March are busting to get outside, and I feel like I need to oblige. Some of them are getting to be a little too much to handle… ahem, cucumbers. Yes, my cucumbers are climbing up to the ceiling, and they desperately need a trellis. Let’s hope they don't get even more out of control before I get them out there. And on that final note, let’s have a wonderful week of gardening!

In the meantime, you can find the full gallery of my growing garden down below. Until next week, Happy Gardening!