Stockton, Maryland, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Stockton, 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 Stockton 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 Stockton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Stockton — the short answer
Stockton, Maryland: USDA zone 7b, about 248 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~248
- 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 Stockton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stockton's 248-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stockton
Each reading below is measured for Stockton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredStockton runs about 248 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
MeasuredStockton 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 Stockton is in
Stockton sits in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Stockton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Worcester County.
What Grows in Stockton
Every plant below cleared Stockton's own zone 7b and its 248-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maryland profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Stockton?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
Documented around Stockton
Spotted lanternfly documented 30 miles from Stockton, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Stockton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stockton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Frank's Mini TavernUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- WO Fd 34Nitrate · 2300 ft
- Page & Bob's MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Tarr's GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- SAMS FARM (EXPANSION)CAFO · 1.7 mi
- TWIN OAK FARMCAFO · 1.7 mi
- CHRISTOPHER L & ALLISON RIDDLEBERGERCAFO · 1.8 mi
- JAMES J. SELBY/KEEPING THE FAITH FARMCAFO · 2.0 mi
- SUCCESSFUL FARM INC.CAFO · 2.0 mi
- WO Ed 46Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- B & B FARMCAFO · 2.1 mi
- WO Ed 8Nitrate · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stockton'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 Stockton.
Total Sites
292
within ~10 miles of Stockton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stockton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stockton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Stockton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Stockton — CAFO (67 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Stockton
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 Stockton average
Your land is one point inside Stockton
Everything above resolves to Stockton 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 Stockton Average
Stockton Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Stockton
- ●One soil character for all of Stockton
- ●Frost dates read at Stockton's scale: Mar 20 to Nov 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stockton's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stockton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stockton, Maryland — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stockton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stockton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stockton average
How we know this about Stockton
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 Stockton’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 Stockton
When does frost risk typically end in Stockton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stockton typically lands around Mar 20, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Stockton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stockton typically arrives around Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 9, so the watching starts about Oct 24 — about 248 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Stockton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stockton sees about 248 frost-free days — roughly Mar 20 through Nov 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 10 to Nov 9, about 213 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Stockton?
The federal record around Stockton is a meaningful one — 292 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (138), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Stockton?
From about Oct 24 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Stockton's scale — its 7b band and its 248-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stockton'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 Stockton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Stockton's own scale — its own ~248-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,089 acres it covers and 292 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stockton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Stockton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 20 and Nov 23 and the ~248-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 292 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stockton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stockton's boundary and the 1,089 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~248-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Stockton's own centroid, the Middle Atlantic Coastal PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Stocktonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Stockton's 1,089 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Worcester County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Worcester 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 Worcester County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Stockton's 1,089 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stockton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,089 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Stockton-wide figureread your own land →