The heat is on as Memorial Day weekend approaches. Generally known as a traditional planting time, we have an absolute abundance of plants that will thrive and you will love. You can find us this week and holiday weekend at three locations.

1. Garden Shack Farmers Market on Thursday, May 26 from 2 to 6. The Garden Shack is located at 19884 Beaver Dam Road (Route 23) in Lewes.
2. Historic Lewes Farmers Market (HLFM) on Saturday, May 28 from 8 to 12. Please note the new location of the HLFM at the George H.P. Smith Park located at the corner of Dupont and Johnson Avenues. For good parking and easy access, use Sussex Drive off of Savannah Road and park in one of the school parking lots. Follow the signs. You can enter directly into the market from the parking lot behind the school.
3. Hattie’s Garden on Sunday, May 29 from 11 to 3 located at 31341 Kendale Rd in Lewes.

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

Available Plants

We will bring as many plants as possible to the farmers markets on Thursday and Saturday, but you will find a more comprehensive selection at Hattie’s Garden on Sunday.

Flowers

• Zinnias are amazing this year. These are undemanding annuals that simply need full sun, warmth, and well-drained soil rich in organic matter.
  • Benary Giant Zinnias — these are the tallest and with continual cutting can easily reach 5 feet.
  • State Fair Zinnias — the 36-48 inch plants produce 4-6 inch blooms that are terrific as cut flowers.
  • Oklahoma Cutting Zinnias — with a height between 30-40 inches, this variety has an excellent vase life and low susceptibility to powdery mildew.
  • Cut and Come Again Zinnias — growing just to about 24 inches, the Pumila Mix Zinnia aka “Cut & Come Again” is the shortest of the cutting zinnias we offer and can be a beautiful fit for many flower beds
  • Profusion Bedding Zinnias — growing 12-16 inches, the Profusion series are outstanding performer in your garden.
• Cosmos — prized for their abundant, silky, daisylike flowers and their unflappable, easy-care nature in the garden, we offer beautiful the tall Double Click series
  • sumptuous Cranberry
  • the true beauty Rose Bonbon
  • Mixed — includes long-blooming shades of white, pink, and rosy-red double flowers.
• French Marigolds — all are open-pollinated and should do a good job putting off a rather offensive odor for troublesome insects!
• Gomphrena — also known as Globe Amaranth, this beautiful bedding or a cutting flower is a must-have for any garden. Available in purple and mixed colors.

Tomatoes

Most of our 25 varieties of very healthy and vigorous tomato plants are ready for you. This includes five varieties that are well-suited to container growing.

Please see our FAQ Section on Tomatoes for information on tomatoes such as the differences between heirloom & hybrid, categories (e.g. heirloom, hybrid, paste, cherry), open v. closed pollinated, growing tomatoes in containers, how often to water your growing tomatoes and more.

Other Vegetable Plants

We have plenty of vegetable plants this week.

• Eggplant — several varieties of Asian and Italian.
• Squash — Black Zucchini.
• Cucumber — includes the vigorous Marketmore slicing variety.
• Lettuce — several lettuce plant varieties to choose from.

Peppers

Select from a stunning selection of hot peppers in all kinds of sizes and flavors, sweet and crisp sweet bell peppers and a wide range of other sweet peppers.

Herbs

We have lovely herb planters and all our herbs are available with the exception of basil which should be ready in mid-June.

• Parsley — Flat ‘Giant of Italy’ and Curly ‘Krausa’.
• Bouquet Dill — Delightful herb with many culinary uses.
• Calypso Cilantro — Excellent eating quality and lots of leaves on this variety.
• Berggarten Sage — The flavor of this common sage is excellent.
• Chives — Hardy perennial with lilac-colored flowers that bloom in June and July.
• Greek Oregano — If you want to “true” oregano, Greek Oregano is the one to plant.
• Thyme — English and Lemon varieties.
• Rosemary ‘Arp’ — A delightful culinary rosemary.
• Genovese-type Basil — High-yielding Dolly and authentic Italian Large Leaf.
• 12″ Oval Herb Planters — with Chives, Greek Oregano, English Thyme, Flat Parsley, Berggarten Sage.

Available Produce This Week

When you come for your plants, don’t forget to pickup some fresh salad ingredients. We do our best to cool all produce quickly from the field, wash in clean cool well-water and refrigerate immediately. While at market, we also go to great lengths to keep produce cool. This means you’ve got to look into the coolers to find your salad mixes, etc. This week we will have the following freshly harvested produce.

• Hakurei Turnips — Sweet, delicate, small white morsels of delight with the nicest greens of any turnip we have ever seen.
• Red Ball Turnips — Small tender turnips, go beautifully with the Hakurei white turnips.
• Purple Rapa — Delicious Asian green, succulent, never stringy, eat cooked or raw.
• Arugula — Young and very tasty. Triple-washed.
• Kale — Two kinds of triple-washed kale; very flavorful Premier, an heirloom also known as Early Hanover, and Red Russian. We harvest this as young kale for use in salads or for very quick cooking. It is always delicious.
• Lettuce — Beautiful heads of several varieties.
• Radishes — Beautiful and crunchy.
• Herbs — Fresh Herbs including wonderful “mojito” Mint, tangy Dill, gorgeous Cilantro, fragant Rosemary and soft, sweet, savory Sage.

Have a great and safe weekend. See you at the Garden Shack Farmers Market on Thursday, the HLFM on Saturday and at the Garden on Sunday!

Yours in the garden and at the market,