Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, in Connecticut, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Naugatuck Valley Planning Region holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Naugatuck Valley Planning Region — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Naugatuck Valley Planning Region — the short answer
Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, Connecticut: USDA zone 6b, about 202 days between hard freezes, across 264K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~202
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 264K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 6b is Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's 202-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
Across a year, Naugatuck Valley Planning Region accumulates about 2,598 growing degree days above 50°F, about 66 fewer than the middle Connecticut county — ahead of 2 of Connecticut’s 9 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Naugatuck Valley County
Detailed USDA soil-survey (SSURGO) mapping is limited across Naugatuck Valley County, so there isn't a reliable county-wide soil summary to show here yet — a gap in the national survey, not in the ground itself.
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
Each reading below is measured for Naugatuck Valley Planning Region itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNaugatuck Valley Planning Region runs about 202 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredNaugatuck Valley Planning Region sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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
What Grows in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
We scored all 1,086 plants against Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's own USDA zone 6b and its own 202-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Connecticut profile.
Is it too late to plant in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Documented around Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
Spotted lanternfly documented 7 miles from Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Naugatuck Valley County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Naugatuck Valley County — 2,498 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 57 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Naugatuck Valley Planning Region carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
Closest first, across Naugatuck Valley County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WPCA PUMP STATION #1Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- WPCA PUMP STATION #5Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MIDDLEBURY HIGHWAY DEPT. GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- FIDANZA BROS CONST COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- DOT CT STATE OFBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- CT-WB 370Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- MULTI METAL MANUFACTURINGBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- MULTI METAL MANUFACTURINGToxics Release Inventory · 1.5 mi
- COUNTRY CLUB ROAD PUMP STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- NAUGATUCK VETERINARY HOSPITALBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- Global Montello Group #5030Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- CT-MD 8Nitrate · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Naugatuck Valley Planning Region'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 Naugatuck Valley Planning Region.
Sources Checked
across Naugatuck Valley County
Severity Distribution
across Naugatuck Valley County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, two things run higher than the national average across Naugatuck Valley County — Superfund (57 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (208 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
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 Naugatuck Valley Planning Region average
Your land is one point inside Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
Everything above resolves to Naugatuck Valley Planning Region as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 264K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region Average
Naugatuck Valley Planning Region Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
- ●One soil character for all of Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
- ●Frost dates read at Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region, Connecticut — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Naugatuck Valley Planning Region averages can't show:
We read public map data around Naugatuck Valley Planning Region — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Naugatuck Valley Planning Region average
How we know this about Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Naugatuck Valley Planning Region carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Naugatuck Valley Planning Region
When does frost risk typically end in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
How long is the growing season in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Naugatuck Valley Planning Region sees about 202 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 16, about 167 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Naugatuck Valley Planning Region?
The federal record around Naugatuck Valley Planning Region runs heavier than most — 2,498 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (1,190), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
Everything above is measured at Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's scale — its 6b band and its 202-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Connecticut's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Naugatuck Valley Planning Region’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's own scale — its own ~202-day span between 28°F freezes and 2,498 documented sites inside its boundary; 2 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~202-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 2,498 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's boundary and the 264,182 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~202-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — the national survey's mapping is too sparse here for a county summary, so the state's dominant soils are the closest readfrom Connecticut
- The growing challenges every Connecticut grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Connecticut
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Naugatuck Valley Planning Region — the ~202 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Naugatuck Valley Planning Region's 264,182 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 2,498 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Naugatuck Valley Planning Regionread your own land →