What Grows in Perry Hall, Maryland

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Perry Hall typically lands around Mar 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Apr 9.

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Perry Hall typically arrives around Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 11, so the watching starts about Oct 26 — about 251 days after the spring freeze cleared.

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Perry Hall sees about 251 frost-free days — roughly Mar 19 through Nov 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 9 to Nov 11, about 216 days.

The federal record around Perry Hall runs heavier than most — 2,978 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,397), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.

From about Oct 26 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Nov 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Nov 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.