Hattie’s Garden open weekly Thursday and Friday from 10 to 5

Here at Hattie’s Garden, we continue to plant as fast as we can so your garden can flourish with lovely vegetables, tomatoes, herbs, peppers, eggplants and flowers.

On Sunday, we put in 216 zinnia plants, a few dozen celosia plants, over 300 little lettuce plants, another bed of cherry tomatoes and we seeded hakurei turnips. Not bad for a half day’s work! Then we sat back and enjoyed the gentle rain on Monday, settling everything into place.

We love it when it works out that way. Something I have heard a good farmer say … the difference between a successful farmer and one who is less so, is timing. When a thing has to be done in the garden, it has to be done. When it is time to plant, plant, when it is time to water, water and when it is time to harvest, harvest. Mother nature cares not the day of the week, but weather is everything when it comes to growing well.

Schedule this Week

Hattie’s Garden will be open weekly at the Garden on Thursday and Friday from 10 to 5.

In addition, please visit us at our two Historic Lewes Farmers Market (HLFM) markets: Wednesday by the Crooked Hammock Brewery on King’s Highway near Dartmouth Drive and Rt. 1, and Saturday from 8 to 12 located on the grounds of the George H.P. Smith Park at the corner of Dupont and Johnson Avenues.

If these times / dates do not work for you, please email Hattie to make arrangements for an appointment. We can accommodate most requests.

Plants

Hattie’s Garden grows a variety of healthy tomato plants, vegetable plants, herb plants and flower plants for the home gardener. There is still plenty of time to plant and we certainly have the plants! While we do bring plants (and produce) to the HLFM Markets, because of space limitations, your best selection will always be found at the Garden.

Tomatoes

The drop dead date for putting in a tomato plant is probably sometime around June 30, although you will usually get tomatoes even when you plant during the first week of July. We are on our third batch of tomatoes and they are beautiful and we have one more in the wings for later in June. For the adventurous, try our new Pink Berkeley Tie-Die. This heirloom beefsteak comes early, is very productive and disease-tolerant.

And don’t forget the faithful smooth cherry Tommy Toe tomatoes. We also have nice Honeybunch Grape, tons of Sungold and the juicy and delicious Black Cherry tomato plants. If you’re looking for a good selection of heirloom and hybrid tomato plants, we have plenty of nice ones for you to select.

Peppers

For those of you who have requested or need the popular, productive Japapeno ‘Jalafuego’, those plants will be ready this week, as well as lots more pepper plants and a new batch of eggplant plants.

Other Vegetable Plants

Other vegetables ready to go include small arugula plugs, small mixed lettuce plugs and three kinds of cucumbers: Lemon Cucumbers, the nearly seedless pickling cucumber called Arkansas Little-leaf, and Marketmore slicing.

Herbs

I spied a full tray of Italian Large Leaf Basil in the greenhouse that looks beautiful and we are starting more basil all the time.

The Rosemary is beginning to respond to the warmth and putting on good size and we still plant little dill and cilantro plugs in 4-packs for just $4 with lots of seeds so they produce a usable amount for you.

The Lemon Thyme is jumping out of the pots and makes a wonderful spreading ground cover. English Thyme is a little calmer, and is a culinary necessity.

The Oregano is lush and very easy to grow in your garden.

Flowers

We now have a good selection of both our bedding zinnias and bedding marigolds (nice stinky French marigolds). We also have a new open-pollinated French marigold this year called Court Jester which is not your typical dwarf or extra dwarf variety of marigold commonly sold in box stores, but is a full-on French Marigold, not an African marigold. It has bright stripes of burgundy and yellow and makes terrific cut flowers that last a long time. Big and bushy, give it a bit of room and expect it to grow two feet in height.

Produce

We are picking the first of our Patty Pan Squash this week and to be sure to get some, you may want to stop by the garden on Thursday or Friday, or arrive at either of our markets nice and early.

We will have plenty of triple-washed Loose-leaf lettuce, Mesclun and Young Arugula all week, as well as bunches of fresh cilantro, dill, parsley and mint.

Cut Flowers

We are beginning to cut the first of our snap dragons and zinnias to add to our cut flower bouquets with the beautiful Bell Flower and Larkspur. Each of our flower cuttings, which will last you at least a full week, are pretty enough to stand alone in a vase. However, we do assemble, in advance, some lovely individually-wrapped bouquets. And of course, you may also request a custom made bouquet, using your choice of flowers, made on the spot. Each bouquet comes with a packet of flower food.

Yours in the Garden & Markets,