Gorman, Maryland, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Gorman, 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 Gorman 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 Gorman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Gorman — the short answer
Gorman, Maryland: USDA zone 6a, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 803 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 803 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 Gorman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gorman's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gorman
Each reading below is measured for Gorman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGorman runs about 170 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
MeasuredGorman 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 Gorman is in
Gorman sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Gorman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Garrett County.
What Grows in Gorman
Every plant below cleared Gorman's own zone 6a and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maryland profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gorman?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — 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 Gorman
Spotted lanternfly documented 12 miles from Gorman, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Gorman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gorman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GA Fb 43Nitrate · 1900 ft
- GA Fb 42Nitrate · 1900 ft
- GA Fb 44Nitrate · 1900 ft
- GORMANIA GAS & GO, INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- GORMANIA BRIDGE -WV DOT DIV OF HIGHWAYSBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- NORTH BRANCH MINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- C-1Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- ALPINE PREPARATION PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- VEPCO SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- RT 90 SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- FORMER THREE LANE AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- RUTH FOSTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gorman'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 Gorman.
Total Sites
194
within ~10 miles of Gorman
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gorman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gorman
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 Gorman
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 Gorman average
Your land is one point inside Gorman
Everything above resolves to Gorman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 803 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 Gorman Average
Gorman Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Gorman
- ●One soil character for all of Gorman
- ●Frost dates read at Gorman's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gorman's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gorman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gorman, Maryland — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gorman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gorman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gorman average
How we know this about Gorman
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 Gorman’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 Gorman
When does frost risk typically end in Gorman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gorman typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Gorman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gorman typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gorman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gorman sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Oct 3, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gorman?
The federal record around Gorman shows 194 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (116), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Gorman?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gorman's scale — its 6a band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gorman'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 Gorman’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Gorman's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 803 acres it covers and 194 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gorman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gorman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 17 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 194 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gorman, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gorman's boundary and the 803 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gorman's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Gormanlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gorman's 803 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 Gorman's 803 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gorman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 803 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Gorman-wide figureread your own land →
More in Maryland
Growing region
Nearby growing guides