North Newton, Kansas, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in North Newton, 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 North Newton 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 North Newton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Newton — the short answer
North Newton, Kansas: USDA zone 6b, about 218 days between hard freezes, across 584 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~218
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 584 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 6b is North Newton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Newton's 218-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Newton
Each reading below is measured for North Newton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorth Newton runs about 218 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
MeasuredNorth Newton 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
The kind of country North Newton is in
North Newton sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at North Newton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harvey County.
What Grows in North Newton
Every plant below cleared North Newton's own zone 6b and its 218-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Newton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 7 — 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 North Newton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Newton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BETHEL COLLEGEBrownfields · 1100 ft
- BULLER CYCLE SVCBrownfields · 2400 ft
- HAMPEL OIL-NEWTON BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- HINZ MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- LIPPERT COMPONENTS PLANT 93Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- PRESTRESSED CONCRETE CONST., LUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PAYNE OIL CO. INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- LONESTAR STORE #26Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- SOMMERFELD/PENNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- JOHNNY'S TRANSMISSION SVSBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- NORTH MAIN CAR WASHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- FARMERS GRAIN COOPBrownfields · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Newton'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 North Newton.
Total Sites
273
within ~10 miles of North Newton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Newton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Newton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Newton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of North Newton — CAFO (3 sites) and Nitrate (80 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in North Newton
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 North Newton average
Your land is one point inside North Newton
Everything above resolves to North Newton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 584 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 city 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 North Newton Average
North Newton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across North Newton
- ●One soil character for all of North Newton
- ●Frost dates read at North Newton's scale: Apr 3 to Nov 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Newton's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Newton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Newton, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Newton averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Newton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Newton average
How we know this about North Newton
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at North Newton’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 North Newton
When does frost risk typically end in North Newton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Newton typically lands around Apr 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in North Newton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Newton typically arrives around Nov 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 24, so the watching starts about Oct 8 — about 218 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Newton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Newton sees about 218 frost-free days — roughly Apr 3 through Nov 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 24 to Oct 24, about 183 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Newton?
The federal record around North Newton is a meaningful one — 273 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (100), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 North Newton?
From about Oct 8 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 Nov 7 (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 Nov 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at North Newton's scale — its 6b band and its 218-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Newton'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 North Newton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at North Newton's own scale — its own ~218-day season between 28°F freezes, the 584 acres it covers and 273 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Newton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- North Newton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 3 and Nov 7 and the ~218-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 273 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Newton, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Newton's boundary and the 584 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~218-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Newton's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Newton's 584 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harvey County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harvey County
- The growing challenges every Kansas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Kansas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Harvey County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Newton's 584 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Newton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 584 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 North Newton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Kansas
Wider growing context
What grows across KansasNorth Newton sits outside our named growing regions, so Kansas as a whole is its closest context here.