It has been neither much of a spring, nor much of a gardening season.
If it's not the rain, it's the temperature. First there was a near record of 15 days straight with measurable rainfall. And then there were near record cold temperatures. As recently as Monday morning, temperatures were in the 30s in much of Harford County.
It's mid-May and there have been plenty of days when the high temperature has been 15 or more degrees below the average for that day. This time of year, the average high temperature is in the low to mid 70s. We've had plenty of days when the high temperature was in the mid to upper 50s.
The forecast for our area has seemingly been rain and 57 degrees for the past couple of weeks. When the sun pokes through for a day, or less, that sunshine has been accompanied by March winds and/or followed by late October temperatures.
We only bring this up because, according to the calendar, it's gardening season. The weather, however, has made it hard to keep up with the grass cutting, without turning some yards into muddy streaks, yet alone planting the seeds of a summer bounty.
Two local quarrying operations, as chronicled on the front of our pp&t section Friday, have been pitching in with donations to help community gardening operations in Aberdeen and Havre de Grace. Vulcan Materials in Havre de Grace is a full participant in the city's Green Team community garden off Graceview Drive. Bluegrass Materials Churchville Quarry is doing the same for a community garden at the Boys and Girls Club in Aberdeen.
We commend both operations for their community involvement and we wish gardeners across Harford County improved weather for growing.