Hattie’s Garden will be holding a plant sale this Friday, May 16, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. We will also be at the Historic Lewes Farmers Market (HLFM) on Saturday.

Last week we were able to provide lots of plants to our customers, but there were a significant number of them that just weren’t quite ready.

But that has changed in just a few short day as we really are having sunny and warm weather. The greenhouse plants are responding with their characteristic “off the charts” growth!

Many of our flower plants, herb plants, along with a new transplant of tomato plants will be ready for the Friday Plant Sale. We will also have plants at HLFM on Saturday, but for those of you who prefer the convenience of coming out to the garden and easily putting plants into the back of your car, then Friday afternoon might work better for you.

What’s Available for the Plant Sale

Tomatoes

We will have 20-plus varieties of tomatoes ready on Friday.

These include a couple nice dwarf cherry varieties for containers, some good paste tomato varieties, several heirloom tomatoes (always a taste treat) and several nice hybrids selected for performance and flavor.

Herbs

Basil

Yes, Basil, Basil, Basil! Finally for all you basil seekers, the weather is ready for you! We will have PLENTY of basil!

Many of you have asked for basil earlier in the season and we do repeat, again and again, please do not put your basil out until nighttime temperatures are consistently above the 50 degree mark!

Basil is a very warm weather herb and putting it out early just isn’t the thing to do! Of course you can buy it in other nurseries and big box stores, but Hattie’s Garden is a little old-fashioned and likes to provide you with plants when chances for your success are the greatest!

Rosemary

This is a a warm-weather herb that has been slow in coming because of the unseasonably cold weather we has in April. We have started extra rosemary this year because so many of us lost our beloved rosemary this past winter.

The variety we grow is Rosemary ‘Arp’, a nice culinary rosemary you can grow in this area and should be hardy for our winters.

Though you may buy it this weekend, we recommend to wait a couple more weeks since it would benefit from the protected environment in the high tunnel and will put on a lot of growth there.

Lemongrass

Another warm-weather herb is lemongrass. Lemongrass is smart. It simply does not grow until it is warm enough. But it is now beginning to respond to the heat, so it will come along quickly now!

Parsley

We now have plenty of parsley, both curly and flat.

Cilantro & Dill

We also have small four-packs of cilantro and dill. These four-packs can be cut in half for you and each small “cell” will yield as much and more as a larger pot.

We are growing it this way so the growth happens in your garden and not in the pot. A well rooted pot of cilantro or dill will make much less growth in your garden and will go to seed very quickly. These smaller packs are only in their cells for a couple of weeks and this is how we grow them to place in our garden. They will produce full, beautiful plants.

Thyme

In addition to the other herbs listed on the website, we do have another batch of English thyme coming along (the first batch is nearly gone!).

French Tarragon

And due to repeated requests, we have started some French tarragon.

The tarragon also likes our warmer weather and will be ready in a couple of weeks, and this is a true French tarragon.

Flowers

We will have lots more flowers this week for you, including First Lady Marigolds, Brocade Marigold Mix, Bedding Zinnias, and several different cutting Zinnias.

Some of our other summer annuals are slower to grow and may be another week or so to get to a good size. New plants will arrive throughout the month of May.

What’s Available This Week at the HLFM

We will have freshly-harvested Hakurei turnips this week.

Hakurei turnips are not your run-of-the-mill average turnip! These turnips are great raw – sweet and mild, or cooked lightly in stir-fries and soups.

In addition, we will have the following produce:
[one_half]Triple-Washed & Bagged Salad Greens
– Loose Leaf Lettuce
– Arugula
– Mesclun Mix: Lettuce, Arugula & Baby Beet Greens
[/one_half][one_half_last]Fresh Herbs
– Mint
– Cilantro
– Dill
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