Dover Beaches North, New Jersey, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Dover Beaches North, 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 Dover Beaches North 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 Dover Beaches North — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dover Beaches North — the short answer
Dover Beaches North, New Jersey: USDA zone 7b, about 242 days between hard freezes, across 589 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~242
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 589 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 Dover Beaches North's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dover Beaches North's 242-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dover Beaches North
Each reading below is measured for Dover Beaches North itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDover Beaches North runs about 242 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
MeasuredDover Beaches North 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 Dover Beaches North is in
Dover Beaches North sits in the Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Dover Beaches North's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ocean County.
What Grows in Dover Beaches North
Every plant below cleared Dover Beaches North's own zone 7b and its 242-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Jersey profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dover Beaches North?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 22 — 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 Dover Beaches North
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Dover Beaches North, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Dover Beaches North
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dover Beaches North. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHADWICK ISLAND MARINA INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- NASSAU MARINA HOLDINGS DBA OCEAN BEACHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CHADWICK BCH EXXON #37798Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- LAVALLETTE WATER DEPTPFAS · 2300 ft
- POLICE DEPARTMENT SUB-STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- SULLIVANS ISLAND SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 290100-- Normandy 3Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 290099-- Normandy 2Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- SOLAR GARDEN APARTMENTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- OCEAN CNTY UTILITIES AUTH CPS-1Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- KELLYS SEABAY SUNOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 800 GRAND CENTRAL AVENUEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dover Beaches North'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 Dover Beaches North.
Total Sites
1,268
within ~10 miles of Dover Beaches North
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
21 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dover Beaches North
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dover Beaches North
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dover Beaches North, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Dover Beaches North — Superfund (21 sites) and PFAS (12 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Dover Beaches North
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 Dover Beaches North average
Your land is one point inside Dover Beaches North
Everything above resolves to Dover Beaches North as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 589 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 Dover Beaches North Average
Dover Beaches North Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Dover Beaches North
- ●One soil character for all of Dover Beaches North
- ●Frost dates read at Dover Beaches North's scale: Mar 25 to Nov 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dover Beaches North's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dover Beaches North
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dover Beaches North, New Jersey — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dover Beaches North averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dover Beaches North — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dover Beaches North average
How we know this about Dover Beaches North
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 Dover Beaches North’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 Dover Beaches North
When does frost risk typically end in Dover Beaches North?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dover Beaches North typically lands around Mar 25, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Dover Beaches North?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dover Beaches North typically arrives around Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 8, so the watching starts about Oct 23 — about 242 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dover Beaches North?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dover Beaches North sees about 242 frost-free days — roughly Mar 25 through Nov 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 15 to Nov 8, about 207 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dover Beaches North?
The federal record around Dover Beaches North runs heavier than most — 1,268 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (715), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Dover Beaches North?
From about Oct 23 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dover Beaches North's scale — its 7b band and its 242-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dover Beaches North'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 Dover Beaches North’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Dover Beaches North's own scale — its own ~242-day season between 28°F freezes, the 589 acres it covers and 1,268 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dover Beaches North's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dover Beaches North's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 25 and Nov 22 and the ~242-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,268 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dover Beaches North, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dover Beaches North's boundary and the 589 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~242-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dover Beaches North's own centroid, the Atlantic Coastal Pine BarrensUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Dover Beaches Northlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dover Beaches North's 589 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ocean County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ocean 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 Ocean County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dover Beaches North's 589 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dover Beaches North you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 589 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 Dover Beaches North-wide figureread your own land →