One delicious Asian green to look for from Hattie’s Garden this week is a Chinese cabbage called ‘Fun Jen’. Formally pronounced “foon-yen,” this Asian green is closely related to pak choi and is absolutely delicious.

With a juicy white stem and tender frilly leaves, Fun Jen has a mild, delicate flavor and can be used either raw in salads, or added to soups or stir-fries.

Because the leaves are firm, yet mild and tender, they make a great substitute for bread when making sandwiches.

And the baby leaves are especially nice in salad mixes. We pick it before it becomes full size to maintain its tenderness.

Yes, fall season is almost upon us as we are approach Labor Day weekend. This week Hattie’s Garden continues with fall planting. We accomplish most of our planting for the fall in August and September.

Some of the crops that do especially well for us during the season are lettuce, spinach, arugula, carrots, radishes, turnips, Asian greens and kale.

We also hope to continue harvesting summer vegetables like tomatoes and green beans well into September.

What’s Available This Week

The following will be available from Hattie’s Garden on Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. or Friday from 1 – 5 p.m. and at the Historic Lewes Farmer’s Market (HLFM) on Saturday, from 8 a.m. to noon.

• Young Arugula — We have a large batch to harvest this week.
• Loose Leaf Lettuce — We have a large supply this week for you.
• Mesclun — A nice mixture of our young arugula and loose leaf.
• Tomatoes — We are still pulling lots of heirlooms this week, as well as beautiful cherry and grape tomatoes in every color.
• Fun Jen — A good lettucy-type Chinese cabbage with semi-loose conical very light yellow-green ruffled 6×10″ heads of crunchy texture and very mild delicate flavor, somewhat like lettuce. The thick white ribs are tasty with a pleasing light tangy sweetness. Enjoy raw or slightly stir-fried or steamed. Fun Jen is a good foundation vegetable for lunches and light summer suppers.



• Haricot Vert Beans — Slender, tender and sweet French green beans.
• Provider Green Beans — Flavor filled and picked young.
• Eggplant — Asian and Italian varieties available.
• Peppers — We have a limited supply of sweet and hot peppers. Stop by the Garden for best selection, or let Hattie know by email you would like to reserve.
• Flowers — We can make you a custom bouquet to order, or choose from our prepared bouquets. Each bouquet comes with a packet of flower food. These bouquets should last at least a full week for you as we cut and condition them professionally. Available this week are:
  
  • Gladiolus — Tall flower spikes adorned with large, beautiful flowers.
  • Double-click Cosmos — Available in an array of colors such as white, pink, cranberry and rose.
  • Benary Giant Zinnias — These big, bright, and bold flowers are always a favorite.
  • Tall Blue Ageratum — This is a great cut flower with a good vase life. The cool blue color wonderfully sets off the hot colors of other summer flowers such as zinnias.
  • Lisianthus — Yes, they are in bloom again!

Yours at the market and garden…