Moscow, Maryland, 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.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Moscow, 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 Moscow 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 Moscow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Moscow — the short answer
Moscow, Maryland: USDA zone 6b, about 203 days between hard freezes, across 157 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~203
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 157 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 Moscow's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moscow's 203-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moscow
Each reading below is measured for Moscow itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMoscow runs about 203 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
MeasuredMoscow 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 Moscow is in
Moscow sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Moscow's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Allegany County is mostly Ridge and Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Moscow
Every plant below cleared Moscow's own zone 6b and its 203-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maryland profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moscow?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — 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 Moscow
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Moscow, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Moscow
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moscow. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Old ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Barton GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Barton Minning Co.Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Bailey's Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- George AyersUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- AL Ca 8Nitrate · 1600 ft
- Shaw's Service Station (Exxon)Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- VINDEX ENERGY JACKSON MOUNTAIN MINEToxics Release Inventory · 2500 ft
- JACKSON MOUNTAINBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- BTC Trucking, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- McKenzie ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Georges Creek Wastewater Treatment PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moscow'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 Moscow.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moscow
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moscow
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moscow, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Moscow. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Moscow
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 Moscow average
Your land is one point inside Moscow
Everything above resolves to Moscow as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 157 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 Moscow Average
Moscow Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Moscow
- ●One soil character for all of Moscow
- ●Frost dates read at Moscow's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moscow's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moscow
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moscow, Maryland — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moscow averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moscow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moscow average
How we know this about Moscow
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 Moscow’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 Moscow
When does frost risk typically end in Moscow?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moscow typically lands around Apr 10, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Moscow?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moscow typically arrives around Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 16, so the watching starts about Sep 30 — about 203 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moscow?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moscow sees about 203 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 16, about 168 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Moscow?
The federal record around Moscow is a meaningful one — 273 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (157), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Moscow?
From about Sep 30 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Moscow's scale — its 6b band and its 203-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moscow'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 Moscow’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Moscow's own scale — its own ~203-day season between 28°F freezes, the 157 acres it covers and 273 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moscow's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Moscow's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 30 and the ~203-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 273 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moscow, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moscow's boundary and the 157 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~203-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Moscow sits in the Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Moscowlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Moscow's 157 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Allegany County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Allegany 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 Allegany County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moscow's 157 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moscow you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 157 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Moscow-wide figureread your own land →
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