What Grows in Shady Side, Maryland

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Shady Side typically lands around Mar 9, 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 Mar 30.

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Shady Side typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 271 days after the spring freeze cleared.

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Shady Side sees about 271 frost-free days — roughly Mar 9 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 30 to Nov 21, about 236 days.

The federal record around Shady Side is a meaningful one — 447 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (267), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.

From about Nov 5 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 Dec 5 (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 Dec 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.