Glasford, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Glasford, 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 Glasford 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 Glasford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Glasford — the short answer
Glasford, Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 209 days between hard freezes, across 581 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~209
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 581 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 Glasford's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Glasford's 209-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Glasford
Each reading below is measured for Glasford itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGlasford runs about 209 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
MeasuredGlasford 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 Glasford is in
Glasford sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Glasford's own centroid rather than borrowed from Peoria County.
What Grows in Glasford
Every plant below cleared Glasford's own zone 6a and its 209-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Glasford?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 31 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Glasford
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Glasford. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- J&C COMPLETEBrownfields · 200 ft
- Casey's General Store #1422Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Young Mini MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- 7N 6E-22.8d2Nitrate · 500 ft
- Glasford Gas Storage FieldUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Illini Bluffs Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- WALLS INDUSTRIAL SERVICESBrownfields · 1400 ft
- K& R COBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- CF INDUSTRIES, INC. - KINGSTON MINESTERMINALBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- Clauson and Martin Weber RdsNitrate · 2.2 mi
- CF Industries, Inc. - Kingston Mines TerminalUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- BERGNERS DEPT STORESBrownfields · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Glasford'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 Glasford.
Total Sites
331
within ~10 miles of Glasford
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Glasford
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Glasford
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Glasford, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Glasford. 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.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Glasford
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 Glasford average
Your land is one point inside Glasford
Everything above resolves to Glasford as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 581 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 Glasford Average
Glasford Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Glasford
- ●One soil character for all of Glasford
- ●Frost dates read at Glasford's scale: Apr 5 to Oct 31
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Glasford's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Glasford
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Glasford, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Glasford averages can't show:
We read public map data around Glasford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Glasford average
How we know this about Glasford
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 Glasford’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 Glasford
When does frost risk typically end in Glasford?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Glasford typically lands around Apr 5, 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 Apr 26.
When is the first frost in Glasford?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Glasford typically arrives around Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 17, so the watching starts about Oct 1 — about 209 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Glasford?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Glasford sees about 209 frost-free days — roughly Apr 5 through Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 26 to Oct 17, about 174 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Glasford?
The federal record around Glasford is a meaningful one — 331 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (161), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Glasford?
From about Oct 1 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 31 (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 31. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Glasford's scale — its 6a band and its 209-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Glasford'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 Glasford’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Glasford's own scale — its own ~209-day season between 28°F freezes, the 581 acres it covers and 331 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Glasford's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Glasford's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 5 and Oct 31 and the ~209-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 331 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Glasford, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Glasford's boundary and the 581 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~209-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Glasford's own centroid, the Interior River Valleys and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Glasford's 581 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Peoria County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Peoria County
- The growing challenges every Illinois grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Illinois
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Peoria County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Glasford's 581 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Glasford you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 581 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Glasford-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisGlasford sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides