With a gray sky and the threat of light rain, Janelle Vane unpacked tray after tray of colorful flowers and placed them on the pavement outside Christian Temple in Catonsville.
Grown in greenhouses since late February, the blue, purple, red, orange and yellow flowers provided a splash of color on an otherwise dreary May 4, the opening day for the regular season of the Wednesday Catonsville Farmers' Market.
As Vane set up, Catonsville resident Robin Kessler walked over to the market, stopping to see and smell the aromatic greens at the end of Vane's table.
"Check out the herbs," Vane said.
Kessler and a friend had gone out to breakfast then stopped at the market on the walk home. She would like to have a garden of her own, but right now, instead, frequents the farmers' market for local produce.
"I don't have a garden," Kessler said. "They have my garden."
The Catonsville Farmers' Market has been operating for more than 13 years, according to Cindy Yingling, of Glenville Hollow Farms, one of the market's founding members. In the regular season, which runs through Nov. 23, it has a full stock of 15 vendors. Christian Temple also hosts the market every other week in the winter, with fewer vendors.
This is the market's second regular season at the Christian Temple location, Yingling said. Two new vendors this year are King Mushrooms from the Eastern Shore, and Little Paris, which will sell pastries breads and sandwiches.
Though the regular-season market just opened, vendors have already put in many hours of work to bring their products to market. Vane said more than 100 hours has been spent growing and preparing to bring the flowers to market from her greenhouse in Bel Air.
People headed to the market in the spring should expect to also see cool-weather crops, like greens, onions and radishes, Yingling said. A cool start to the growing season has delayed some early crops people might have seen in warmer years, such as cucumbers and summer squash.
Yingling said the market is producer-only, meaning vendors make what they sell. However, the market doesn't dictate growing methods, though most members practice sustainable methods, such as spraying fungicide or pesticide only when needed.
That's the case with Vane of Wilson's Farm Market.
"We eat what we grow, so we're very careful about it," she said.
In addition to the Wednesday market, the Catonsville Chamber of Commerce runs a Sunday market located at 730 Frederick Road. The two markets aren't affiliated. The chamber's market is larger, with 25 vendors, according to the market's website.