Sussex, New Jersey, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Sussex, 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 Sussex 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 Sussex — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Sussex — the short answer
Sussex, New Jersey: USDA zone 6b, about 194 days between hard freezes, across 380 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~194
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 380 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 Sussex's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sussex's 194-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sussex
Each reading below is measured for Sussex itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSussex runs about 194 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
MeasuredSussex 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 Sussex is in
Sussex sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sussex's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sussex County.
What Grows in Sussex
Every plant below cleared Sussex's own zone 6b and its 194-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Jersey profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sussex?
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 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around Sussex
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Sussex, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Sussex
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sussex. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DAILEY WILSON PONTIAC INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- JP MORGAN CHASE BANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- US GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- COUNTRY CLASSICS AUTO BODYUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- HENDERSON'S EXXON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- HENDERSON'S SERVICE STATION INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- FRANK & MARY KIRCHOFFUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- SUSSEX RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- SUSSEX REDI MIX INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- FORMER EXXON STORE 3-4768Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- DUNCAR REALTY CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- PINKEL FUNERAL HOMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sussex'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 Sussex.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sussex
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sussex
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sussex, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Sussex — Superfund (9 sites) and PFAS (5 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Sussex
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 Sussex average
Your land is one point inside Sussex
Everything above resolves to Sussex as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 380 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 Sussex Average
Sussex Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Sussex
- ●One soil character for all of Sussex
- ●Frost dates read at Sussex's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sussex's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sussex
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sussex, New Jersey — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sussex averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sussex — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sussex average
How we know this about Sussex
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 Sussex’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 Sussex
When does frost risk typically end in Sussex?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sussex typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Sussex?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sussex typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 194 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sussex?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sussex sees about 194 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 12, about 159 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sussex?
The federal record around Sussex is a meaningful one — 429 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (242), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Sussex?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sussex's scale — its 6b band and its 194-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sussex'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 Sussex’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Sussex's own scale — its own ~194-day season between 28°F freezes, the 380 acres it covers and 429 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sussex's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Sussex's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 26 and the ~194-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 429 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sussex, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sussex's boundary and the 380 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~194-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sussex's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Sussexlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sussex's 380 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 Sussex's 380 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sussex you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 380 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Sussex-wide figureread your own land →