More seasonable weather has finally arrived and Hattie’s Garden is now on schedule to begin providing starts for tomatoes, peppers and eggplants by the end of April.

We will have many herbs ready by then as well, and more tender herbs such as basil will be available in early-mid May. The first round of flowers will also be ready. Everything should be available throughout the entire month of May and into early June this year.

Please feel free to email us a pre-order to reserve any plants you know you would like to have. It is nice for us to have some idea about what people want, so that we plant enough of the right things for everyone and then we can put aside your favorite heirlooms especially for you.

Specific availability information will be sent to everyone as we plan our sales and as the farmers market opening date approaches!

In addition, this year I will be offering some very nice quality products from Blessings Blends, a local company producing Organic Material Review Institute (OMRI) certified gardening products. Specifically, you will be able to purchase $10 bags of compost and $10 bags of potting soil. I have trialed both and am very pleased with the results.

A Note from Hattie about Gardening

As a footnote, any gardening we do is beneficial to us in many ways. Gardening gives us an excuse to get moving and get outside. Gardening has important physical and mental benefits. I always feel better from the activity of gardening after a long winter inside.

When we grow vegetables, we begin to think more about the food we are eating and might make better choices in the supermarket. Our culinary world opens up and we begin to grow and try new foods and eat vegetables that are amazing in taste and in freshness. At the farmers market, we can engage with farmers and other customers on a deeper level, gaining more information about food–growing food, cooking, eating food, and food and nutrition.

A frequent question I get from home gardeners is how they might incorporate vegetables into their current landscaping schemes. Many residential yards are landscaped with flower beds and a strategically placed tree or two. My suggestion is always to understand that if you have garden space for flower beds, then you have a perfect place to begin adding vegetables! But, some HOAs forbid vegetable gardening in their communities. What is a grower to do?

If you face a recalcitrant HOA, I suggest you begin to work with them. Make your concerns known and suggest compromises that might work for everyone. Begin to gather signatures from community members to rewrite some of these regulations to allow for some sort of relaxation of onerous restrictions.

Such regulations were created with good intentions to maintain the property values and the aesthetics of their communities. And while vegetables gardens can become a visual detraction and turn into eyesores, a well-kept vegetable garden need not be unattractive–whether in the front yard, the back yard or incorporated into your existing flower beds. Have you seen how beautiful a rainbow swiss chard plant can be among your perennials? What about the eggplant? It is a such a magnificent plant. Pole beans climbing on a trellis with beautiful blossoms are fantastic and even more so as the blossoms begin to turn to beautiful beans while the plant continues its explosion of colorful blossoms throughout the season.

When gardeners start small and remain committed to their small manageable vegetable plots, they enhance neighborhoods, while adding to the health and well-being of all families involved. We are all beginning to understand the importance of eating fresh vegetables, and there are plenty of compelling reasons to garden.

I hope you will join us in the garden.