Othello, New Jersey, 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 Othello, 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 Othello 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 Othello — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Othello — the short answer
Othello, New Jersey: USDA zone 7b, about 237 days between hard freezes, across 793 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 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~237
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 793 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 Othello's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Othello's 237-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Othello
Each reading below is measured for Othello itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOthello runs about 237 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
MeasuredOthello 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 Othello is in
Othello sits in the Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Othello's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cumberland County.
What Grows in Othello
Every plant below cleared Othello's own zone 7b and its 237-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Jersey profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Othello?
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 17 — 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 Othello
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Othello, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Othello
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Othello. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MORRIS GOODWIN SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ARNOLDS STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- WOODS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- HANCOCKS HARBOR MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- BELL ATLANTIC MOBILE SYSTEMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- TOWNSHIP WATER STORAGE TANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- 110073-- Sheppards 2 ObsNitrate · 1.7 mi
- BITTERS BROTHERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- 111918-- CKKC-4Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- 111919-- CKKC-5Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- 111920-- CKKC-6Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- HEWITT EDNAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Othello'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 Othello.
Total Sites
369
within ~10 miles of Othello
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Othello
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Othello
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Othello, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 144 sites within ~10 miles of Othello. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Othello
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 Othello average
Your land is one point inside Othello
Everything above resolves to Othello as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 793 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 Othello Average
Othello Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Othello
- ●One soil character for all of Othello
- ●Frost dates read at Othello's scale: Mar 25 to Nov 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Othello's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Othello
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Othello, New Jersey — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Othello averages can't show:
We read public map data around Othello — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Othello average
How we know this about Othello
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 Othello’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 Othello
When does frost risk typically end in Othello?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Othello 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 Othello?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Othello typically arrives around Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 3, so the watching starts about Oct 18 — about 237 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Othello?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Othello sees about 237 frost-free days — roughly Mar 25 through Nov 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 15 to Nov 3, about 202 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Othello?
The federal record around Othello is a meaningful one — 369 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (191), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Othello?
From about Oct 18 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 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 Nov 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Othello's scale — its 7b band and its 237-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Othello'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 Othello’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Othello's own scale — its own ~237-day season between 28°F freezes, the 793 acres it covers and 369 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Othello's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Othello's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 25 and Nov 17 and the ~237-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 369 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Othello, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Othello's boundary and the 793 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~237-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Othello's own centroid, the Atlantic Coastal Pine BarrensUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Othellolydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Othello's 793 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 Othello's 793 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Othello you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 793 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 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 Othello-wide figureread your own land →