Finzel, Maryland, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Finzel, 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 Finzel 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 Finzel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Finzel — the short answer
Finzel, Maryland: USDA zone 6a, about 187 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- 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
- ~187
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Finzel's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Finzel's 187-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Finzel
Each reading below is measured for Finzel itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFinzel runs about 187 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
MeasuredFinzel 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 Finzel is in
Finzel sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Finzel's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Garrett County is mostly Central Appalachians. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Finzel
Every plant below cleared Finzel's own zone 6a and its 187-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maryland profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Finzel?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Finzel
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Finzel, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Finzel
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Finzel. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GA Ag 41Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- VINDEX ENERGY CORP CABIN RUN SURFACE MINEBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- VINDEX ENERGY CORP CABIN RUN SURFACE MINEToxics Release Inventory · 1.8 mi
- City of Frostburg Piney Creek Dam & Pumping StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- HANSELS RUSTPROOFING INCBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- Maplehurst Country ClubUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- ALLWOOD PRODUCTS INCBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- Clarysville MotorsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- Minick's Gulf ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- Winner Truck Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- WEST SIDE AUTO BODYBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- AL Ac 21Nitrate · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Finzel'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 Finzel.
Total Sites
296
within ~10 miles of Finzel
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Finzel
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Finzel
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Finzel
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 Finzel average
Your land is one point inside Finzel
Everything above resolves to Finzel as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Finzel Average
Finzel Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Finzel
- ●One soil character for all of Finzel
- ●Frost dates read at Finzel's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Finzel's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Finzel
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Finzel, Maryland — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Finzel averages can't show:
We read public map data around Finzel — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Finzel average
How we know this about Finzel
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 Finzel’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 Finzel
When does frost risk typically end in Finzel?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Finzel typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Finzel?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Finzel 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 187 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Finzel?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Finzel sees about 187 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 13, about 152 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Finzel?
The federal record around Finzel is a meaningful one — 296 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (172), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 Finzel?
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 Finzel's scale — its 6a band and its 187-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Finzel'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 Finzel’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Finzel's own scale — its own ~187-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,521 acres it covers and 296 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Finzel's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Finzel's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 27 and the ~187-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 296 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Finzel, the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Finzel's boundary and the 2,521 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~187-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Finzel sits in the Ridge and Valley — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Finzellydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Finzel's 2,521 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Garrett County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Garrett 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 Garrett County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Finzel's 2,521 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Finzel you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,521 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 Finzel-wide figureread your own land →
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