Cumberland-Hesstown, New Jersey, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cumberland-Hesstown, 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 Cumberland-Hesstown 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 Cumberland-Hesstown — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cumberland-Hesstown — the short answer
Cumberland-Hesstown, New Jersey: USDA zone 7a, about 212 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~212
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 7a is Cumberland-Hesstown's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cumberland-Hesstown's 212-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cumberland-Hesstown
Each reading below is measured for Cumberland-Hesstown itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCumberland-Hesstown runs about 212 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
MeasuredCumberland-Hesstown sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Cumberland-Hesstown is in
Cumberland-Hesstown sits in the Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cumberland-Hesstown's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cumberland County.
What Grows in Cumberland-Hesstown
Every plant below cleared Cumberland-Hesstown's own zone 7a and its 212-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Jersey profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cumberland-Hesstown?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 4 — 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 Cumberland-Hesstown
Spotted lanternfly documented 1 miles from Cumberland-Hesstown, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Cumberland-Hesstown
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cumberland-Hesstown. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MAND PETROLEUMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 111153-- Peaslee Wma MW47Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 111864-- MW47RNitrate · 1.1 mi
- PORT ELIZABETH DIVISIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- MILLVILLE SAND PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- CALPINE CORP. - CUMBERLAND ENERGY CENTERToxics Release Inventory · 2.9 mi
- CALPINE CORP. - CUMBERLAND ENERGY CENTERBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- CLEMENSON'S BREEDER FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- WHIBCO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- 010714-- ShallowNitrate · 3.8 mi
- HOLLY HEIGHTS SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- NEW JERSEY SILICA SAND COUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cumberland-Hesstown'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 Cumberland-Hesstown.
Total Sites
503
within ~10 miles of Cumberland-Hesstown
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
14 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cumberland-Hesstown
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cumberland-Hesstown
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cumberland-Hesstown, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Cumberland-Hesstown — Superfund (14 sites) and Nitrate (136 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Cumberland-Hesstown
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 Cumberland-Hesstown average
Your land is one point inside Cumberland-Hesstown
Everything above resolves to Cumberland-Hesstown as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Cumberland-Hesstown Average
Cumberland-Hesstown Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Cumberland-Hesstown
- ●One soil character for all of Cumberland-Hesstown
- ●Frost dates read at Cumberland-Hesstown's scale: Apr 6 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cumberland-Hesstown's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cumberland-Hesstown
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cumberland-Hesstown, New Jersey — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cumberland-Hesstown averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cumberland-Hesstown — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cumberland-Hesstown average
How we know this about Cumberland-Hesstown
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 Cumberland-Hesstown’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 Cumberland-Hesstown
When does frost risk typically end in Cumberland-Hesstown?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cumberland-Hesstown typically lands around Apr 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Cumberland-Hesstown?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cumberland-Hesstown typically arrives around Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 21, so the watching starts about Oct 5 — about 212 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cumberland-Hesstown?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cumberland-Hesstown sees about 212 frost-free days — roughly Apr 6 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 27 to Oct 21, about 177 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cumberland-Hesstown?
The federal record around Cumberland-Hesstown runs heavier than most — 503 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (263), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Cumberland-Hesstown?
From about Oct 5 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cumberland-Hesstown's scale — its 7a band and its 212-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cumberland-Hesstown'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 Cumberland-Hesstown’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Cumberland-Hesstown's own scale — its own ~212-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,631 acres it covers and 503 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cumberland-Hesstown's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cumberland-Hesstown's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 6 and Nov 4 and the ~212-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 503 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cumberland-Hesstown, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cumberland-Hesstown's boundary and the 1,631 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~212-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cumberland-Hesstown's own centroid, the Atlantic Coastal Pine BarrensUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Cumberland-Hesstownlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cumberland-Hesstown's 1,631 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cumberland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cumberland County
- The growing challenges every New Jersey grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New Jersey
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Cumberland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cumberland-Hesstown's 1,631 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cumberland-Hesstown you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,631 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Cumberland-Hesstown-wide figureread your own land →