Get your plants before the weekend begins!

On Friday, May 15, we will hold a Plant Sale at Hattie’s Garden from 4 to 7. Plant CSA members are welcome to arrive at 3:30.

We will also be at the Historic Lewes Farmers Market (HLFM) on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Please email Hattie if that doesn’t work so other arrangements can be made.

Plants this Week

Tomatoes

We have tomatoes! This week, we are featuring our largest planting of over 30 varieties of very healthy and vigorous tomato plants. In addition to the tomatoes you see on our website, we have a couple of surprises for the adventurous. We are trying the new “blue” tomatoes this year with very high levels of anthocyanins. This is the class of pigments responsible for many blue and purple fruits such as blueberries.

Our trial blues are Indigo Rose (1-2 oz. purple/red) and Cascade Village Blue (3-4 oz blue/red). If you would like to try one as well, please come early to the sale.

We also have several tomato plants that are well-suited to container growing. If you are doing any container gardening and would like some of our Vermont Compost Company potting soil, bring a five-gallon bucket. With this wonderful potting soil and an occasional application of organic fertilizer, you can grow nearly anything in a pot.

Squash & Cucumbers

We have a new batch of “black” zucchini and yellow crock-neck squash plants ready for you.

Available cucumbers are the Marketmore Cucumber for slicing, the popular Lemon Cucumber and a parthenocarpic nearly seedless pickling cucumber called “Little-leaf“.

Little-leaf does not need to be pollinated from outside sources so can be covered to keep it pest-free or grown in an area with limited natural pollinators and still produce loads and loads of small delicious pickling cucumbers for fresh eating or pickling.

Flowers

The Zinnias and Marigolds are looking just fabulous and we will have Nasturtiums this week as well.

You can plant an entire bed of Marigolds or Zinnias from tall to short, starting with the 5-foot tall Benary Giant, or the 4-foot tall State Fair Mix.

Then move to the Oklahoma Mix Zinnias at 3-feet, and the Pumila Mix (aka Cut-and-Come Again) at just 2-feet.

These are all “cutting” zinnias and can provide you with many indoor blooms as well as a plethora of color outside.

Our easy-to-care for Profusion Bedding Zinnias (we have six varieties to choose from) are also ready this week, and will spread and grow to just over a foot tall, blooming continually all season with virtually no care at all.

The flower plants we sell are not blooming in their pots! We don’t want them to bloom in their pots. We want them to bloom in your garden and grow to their full potential. They are at the stage now where they will literally “take off” once planted. They are not root-bound and the root hairs are just waiting to explore your soil.

In order for your plants to grow well and survive they need to establish strongly in the ground where you plant them. This requires good root growth, as well as new branches and leaves to get the energy the plant needs to make it through the stressful transition of transplanting. All this desirable vegetative growth needed for planting won’t take place if the plant is in flower. For more information, please see our article on why Hattie’s flowers are different from Big-Box Stores.

Peppers, Herbs, Eggplants & Lettuce

And don’t forget your peppers, eggplants, herbs, and lettuce plants for the home gardener.

We grow several plantings of everything to keep young healthy plants ready for you the entire month of May and into June. Because we use an unheated hoop-house, certain warm-loving flowers are still another week away. We may have some basil available Friday, and will definitely have lots of it ready next week.

We do bring as many plants as possible to the HLFM, but you will find a better selection at the Garden on Friday and because we have extra hands “on deck”, Hattie will be available for your questions and advice.

Produce this Week

Our produce will be available at the Garden on Friday when you get your plants, or at the HLFM on Saturday, May 16, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

We will have freshly harvested spinach, arugula and lettuce as well as Hakurei turnips and Rudolph radishes.

Yours in the garden & the market,