Bethlehem Village, Connecticut, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bethlehem Village, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Bethlehem Village lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Bethlehem Village — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bethlehem Village — the short answer
Bethlehem Village, Connecticut: USDA zone 6a, about 192 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~192
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 5K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6a is Bethlehem Village's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bethlehem Village's 192-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bethlehem Village
Each reading below is measured for Bethlehem Village itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBethlehem Village runs about 192 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBethlehem Village sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Bethlehem Village is in
Bethlehem Village sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bethlehem Village's own centroid rather than borrowed from Naugatuck Valley Planning Region.
What Grows in Bethlehem Village
Every plant below cleared Bethlehem Village's own zone 6a and its 192-day season. Each card opens that plant's Connecticut profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bethlehem Village?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Bethlehem Village
Spotted lanternfly documented 13 miles from Bethlehem Village, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Bethlehem Village
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bethlehem Village. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MXI HHHWCBrownfields · 1700 ft
- KAPURA G.C. INC.Brownfields · 2000 ft
- BIOPUR INC.Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- TOWN OF BETHLEHEM PUBLIC WORKS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BARBIAN FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BETHLEHEM ENTERPRISESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- RYDER STUDENT TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SUNNY SUPERMARKET LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BETHLEHEM SWITCHING OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Assard ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ROBERT HANAHANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 96 WOOD CREEKBrownfields · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bethlehem Village's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Bethlehem Village.
Total Sites
837
within ~10 miles of Bethlehem Village
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bethlehem Village
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bethlehem Village
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bethlehem Village, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bethlehem Village — Toxics Release Inventory (76 sites) and PFAS (8 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Bethlehem Village
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bethlehem Village average
Your land is one point inside Bethlehem Village
Everything above resolves to Bethlehem Village as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Bethlehem Village Average
Bethlehem Village Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Bethlehem Village
- ●One soil character for all of Bethlehem Village
- ●Frost dates read at Bethlehem Village's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bethlehem Village's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bethlehem Village
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bethlehem Village, Connecticut — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bethlehem Village averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bethlehem Village — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bethlehem Village average
How we know this about Bethlehem Village
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Bethlehem Village’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Bethlehem Village
When does frost risk typically end in Bethlehem Village?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bethlehem Village typically lands around Apr 18, 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 May 9.
When is the first frost in Bethlehem Village?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bethlehem Village typically arrives around Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 13, so the watching starts about Sep 27 — about 192 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bethlehem Village?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bethlehem Village sees about 192 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 13, about 157 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bethlehem Village?
The federal record around Bethlehem Village is a meaningful one — 837 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (344), the nearest Brownfields 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Bethlehem Village?
From about Sep 27 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 Oct 27 (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 Oct 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bethlehem Village's scale — its 6a band and its 192-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bethlehem Village's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Bethlehem Village’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Bethlehem Village's own scale — its own ~192-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,984 acres it covers and 837 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bethlehem Village's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bethlehem Village's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 27 and the ~192-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 837 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bethlehem Village, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bethlehem Village's boundary and the 4,984 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~192-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bethlehem Village's own centroid, the Northeastern Coastal ZoneUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Bethlehem Villagelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bethlehem Village's 4,984 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Naugatuck Valley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Naugatuck Valley County
- The growing challenges every Connecticut grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Connecticut
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Naugatuck Valley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bethlehem Village's 4,984 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bethlehem Village you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,984 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Bethlehem Village-wide figureread your own land →
More in Connecticut
Wider growing context
What grows across ConnecticutBethlehem Village sits outside our named growing regions, so Connecticut as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides