Hear the buzz of springtime? Listen closely, and you’ll hear it all over the Eastern Shore from the bugs to the locals. Just follow the sound and it’ll lead you right to How Sweet It Is Produce Market & Garden Center —  where you’ll find all the best things the Shore has to offer. That’s a guarantee after being voted “Best Of the Eastern Shore” eight consecutive years.

You know you’re getting close when the buzzing gets louder, smells get sweeter, and your eyes see a kaleidoscope of colors. Over the last 17 years, this family-run business on Route 13 in Eden, (just south of Fruitland) has developed its own distinct niche. This spring, let How Sweet It Is help you make the most of your time, money, and energy so you can rediscover and truly enjoy why you’ve chosen to call this unique peninsula home. 

If you  love to play in your yard — whether it be planting flowers, building hardscapes, adding water features, or one-of-a-kind yard art — How Sweet It Is supplies all the ingredients. It’s proud to supply one of the largest selections of perennials, annuals, tropicals, vegetable and herb plants, rose bushes, hanging baskets, dish gardens, and fruit trees in its 10-acre nursery. You could get lost for hours among the beauty of it all.

Once you’ve selected your plants, the garden center offers bagged or bulk, colored mulches, landscape stone, rock, top soil, compost and play sand. Interested in large quantities of these products? How Sweet It Is offers delivery services Monday - Friday.

For finishing touches, How Sweet carries a large selection of colorful pots, bird baths, fountains, and statuary. This season, shop where the landscapers shop, and make your neighbors think you’ve hired one. It’s just that easy because How Sweet It Is carries all the products you need to keep your green thumb well into summer. 

Ever searched for that hard-to-find plant and had no luck? Just ask owner Brent Malone; he’ll hunt nationwide to help you find it. That goes for statuary, fountains and rock, too.  Where else can you get that kind of service?

To love the Shore, you must love the sound of water! Do you find peace while listening to the waves, a trickling stream, or raindrops during a thunderstorm? Capture these sounds in your own backyard by adding wonderful features like fish ponds, waterfalls and fountains. How Sweet It Is can help you complete such projects from step one to the end. It supplies water pond kits, water plants, rocks, pond liners and shells, koi and goldfish, water chemicals, pumps, and fountains.  Could it get any easier?  Plus this season they’re carrying Aquascape Fountain kits that can be installed in under an hour yet provide months of serenity. Check out the running display… you’ll be really impressed!

If only catching what’s in those Eastern Shore waters was that easy. Thank goodness How Sweet It Is has found local fishermen who supply the store with all the bounty the water has to offer. From J.M. Clayton and Smith Island’s hand-picked crabmeat, to Chincoteague scallops, oysters and clams, to Somerset hard crabs and soft crabs… all can be purchased at How Sweet. 

What would fresh seafood be without all the wonderful fixin’s? Inside the store your nose will detect the freshest, vine-ripe produce that’s available. Brent and Woody Malone guarantee 100 percent satisfaction when it comes to their produce. They take pride in their expansive u-pick strawberry fields (which open mid-May) to the sweetest sugar-corn you’ve ever tasted. As spring becomes summer and available produce moves from Florida up the coast, only the best will do at How Sweet It Is. Locals have learned to expect only the sweetest watermelons, cantaloupes, peaches, strawberries, and white sugar-corn to be sold. And as a special treat for visitors of the u-pick strawberry fields… a fresh lemonade stand is operated by Parker, Brent’s 5-year-old son. Running a business must be in the Malone blood.

Need a unique gift? Inside the stand you’ll find Eastern Shore-themed gifts and décor from “local town” crocks, personalized Kayberry stones, to famous Whitey Schmidt’s autographed Chesapeake cookbooks. How Sweet It Is also sells a large selection of homemade-style jams and jellies, also available in juice-sweetened (great for diabetics) and bread mixes. There’s even a huge selection of blue crab pottery, nautical plates and trinkets, and decorative flags. 

This Mother’s Day treat Mom to something sweet from How Sweet It Is.  She’d love a rose bush, hanging basket, dish garden, water fountain, bird bath or feeder, pottery, tree or fruit basket that you surprise her with. If she has everything… a gift card would be sure to delight her!

Want to make your piece of the Eastern Shore a little more special? Follow the buzz to How Sweet It Is. The staff is pleased to help you 7 days-a-week from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.  For directions, call 410-742-8600, or visit the brand new Web site
www.howsweetgarden.com that offers so many more ways to serve its customers.