Ross Corner, New Jersey, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Ross Corner, 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 Ross Corner 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 Ross Corner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ross Corner — the short answer
Ross Corner, New Jersey: USDA zone 6b, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~196
- 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 6b is Ross Corner's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ross Corner's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ross Corner
Each reading below is measured for Ross Corner itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRoss Corner runs about 196 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRoss Corner 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 Ross Corner is in
Ross Corner sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ross Corner's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sussex County.
What Grows in Ross Corner
Every plant below cleared Ross Corner's own zone 6b and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Jersey profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ross Corner?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Ross Corner
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Ross Corner, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Ross Corner
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ross Corner. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 370367-- PW 1Nitrate · 2000 ft
- 370666-- MW-111RNitrate · 2100 ft
- LAWRENCE YETTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- N S C AUTOMOTIVE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- NJDOT ROSS CORNER RD INTERSEC IMPROVEMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- 85 ROUTE 206Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- 370206-- Fairgrounds 7 ObsNitrate · 2400 ft
- QUICKCHEK CORP #170Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- AUGUSTA GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- AUGUSTA COMMERCIAL CENTER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- ESTATE OF GEORGE & ARTHUR FETZERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- HAMILTON TWPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ross Corner'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 Ross Corner.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ross Corner
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ross Corner
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ross Corner, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ross Corner — PFAS (6 sites) and Superfund (9 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Ross Corner
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 Ross Corner average
Your land is one point inside Ross Corner
Everything above resolves to Ross Corner 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 Ross Corner Average
Ross Corner Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Ross Corner
- ●One soil character for all of Ross Corner
- ●Frost dates read at Ross Corner's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ross Corner's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ross Corner
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ross Corner, New Jersey — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ross Corner averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ross Corner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ross Corner average
How we know this about Ross Corner
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 Ross Corner’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 Ross Corner
When does frost risk typically end in Ross Corner?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ross Corner typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Ross Corner?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ross Corner typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ross Corner?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ross Corner sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 10, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ross Corner?
The federal record around Ross Corner is a meaningful one — 598 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (354), the nearest Nitrate 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 Ross Corner?
From about Sep 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 Oct 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ross Corner's scale — its 6b band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ross Corner'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 Ross Corner’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Ross Corner's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,139 acres it covers and 598 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ross Corner's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ross Corner's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Oct 24 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 598 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ross Corner, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ross Corner's boundary and the 1,139 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ross Corner's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Ross Cornerlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ross Corner's 1,139 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sussex County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sussex 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 Sussex County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ross Corner's 1,139 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ross Corner you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,139 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Ross Corner-wide figureread your own land →