Federalsburg, Maryland, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — 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, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Federalsburg, 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 Federalsburg 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 Federalsburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Federalsburg — the short answer
Federalsburg, Maryland: USDA zone 7b, about 236 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~236
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 7b is Federalsburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Federalsburg's 236-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Federalsburg
Each reading below is measured for Federalsburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFederalsburg runs about 236 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
MeasuredFederalsburg sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Federalsburg is in
Federalsburg sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Federalsburg's own centroid rather than borrowed from Caroline County.
What Grows in Federalsburg
Every plant below cleared Federalsburg's own zone 7b and its 236-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maryland profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Federalsburg?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Federalsburg
Spotted lanternfly documented 7 miles from Federalsburg, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Federalsburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Federalsburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TEL LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- Wyoming Concrete Inc. Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Delmarva Vault CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Federalsburg Coastal StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- A&R Auto Sales & ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Super SodaUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Dress for LessUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Charles L. Brohawn Jr.Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Sunshine LaundryUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Masonic LodgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- TRI GAS & OIL CO INCBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Maryland Plastics, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Federalsburg'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 Federalsburg.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Federalsburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Federalsburg
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Federalsburg, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Federalsburg — CAFO (104 sites) and Nitrate (302 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 Federalsburg
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 Federalsburg average
Your land is one point inside Federalsburg
Everything above resolves to Federalsburg as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Federalsburg Average
Federalsburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Federalsburg
- ●One soil character for all of Federalsburg
- ●Frost dates read at Federalsburg's scale: Mar 24 to Nov 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Federalsburg's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Federalsburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Federalsburg, Maryland — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Federalsburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around Federalsburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Federalsburg average
How we know this about Federalsburg
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 Federalsburg’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 Federalsburg
When does frost risk typically end in Federalsburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Federalsburg typically lands around Mar 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Federalsburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Federalsburg typically arrives around Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 1, so the watching starts about Oct 16 — about 236 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Federalsburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Federalsburg sees about 236 frost-free days — roughly Mar 24 through Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 14 to Nov 1, about 201 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Federalsburg?
The federal record around Federalsburg is a meaningful one — 718 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (302), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Federalsburg?
From about Oct 16 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Federalsburg's scale — its 7b band and its 236-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Federalsburg'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 Federalsburg’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Federalsburg's own scale — its own ~236-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,235 acres it covers and 718 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Federalsburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Federalsburg's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 24 and Nov 15 and the ~236-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 718 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Federalsburg, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Federalsburg's boundary and the 1,235 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~236-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Federalsburg's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Federalsburglydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Federalsburg's 1,235 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Caroline County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Caroline County
- The growing challenges every Maryland grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Maryland
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Caroline County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Federalsburg's 1,235 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Federalsburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,235 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Federalsburg-wide figureread your own land →