Loch Sheldrake, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Loch Sheldrake, 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 Loch Sheldrake 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 Loch Sheldrake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Loch Sheldrake — the short answer
Loch Sheldrake, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- 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 6a is Loch Sheldrake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Loch Sheldrake's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Loch Sheldrake
Each reading below is measured for Loch Sheldrake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLoch Sheldrake runs about 176 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
MeasuredLoch Sheldrake sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Loch Sheldrake is in
Loch Sheldrake sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Loch Sheldrake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sullivan County.
What Grows in Loch Sheldrake
Every plant below cleared Loch Sheldrake's own zone 6a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Loch Sheldrake?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Loch Sheldrake
Spotted lanternfly documented 11 miles from Loch Sheldrake, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Loch Sheldrake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Loch Sheldrake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- QUICK MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- LOCHSHELDRAKE FOOD MART, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- SULLIVAN CITY DPW BARRYVILLE SHOPBrownfields · 2200 ft
- STROEHMANN BAKERIES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SULLIVAN COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGEBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- LOCH SHELDRAKE/BROWNS/NEW HOPEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- SHELDRAKE DORMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- TOWN OF FALLSBURG-MORNINGSIDE PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- SALON'S GAS STATION INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- NEW HOPE COMMUNITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- SV 530Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- SV1358Nitrate · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Loch Sheldrake'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 Loch Sheldrake.
Total Sites
384
within ~10 miles of Loch Sheldrake
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Loch Sheldrake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Loch Sheldrake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Loch Sheldrake, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Loch Sheldrake — CAFO (6 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (279 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Loch Sheldrake
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 Loch Sheldrake average
Your land is one point inside Loch Sheldrake
Everything above resolves to Loch Sheldrake 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 Loch Sheldrake Average
Loch Sheldrake Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Loch Sheldrake
- ●One soil character for all of Loch Sheldrake
- ●Frost dates read at Loch Sheldrake's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Loch Sheldrake's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Loch Sheldrake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Loch Sheldrake, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Loch Sheldrake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Loch Sheldrake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Loch Sheldrake average
How we know this about Loch Sheldrake
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 Loch Sheldrake’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 Loch Sheldrake
When does frost risk typically end in Loch Sheldrake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Loch Sheldrake typically lands around Apr 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 May 16.
When is the first frost in Loch Sheldrake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Loch Sheldrake typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Loch Sheldrake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Loch Sheldrake sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Oct 4, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Loch Sheldrake?
The federal record around Loch Sheldrake is a meaningful one — 384 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (279), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Loch Sheldrake?
From about Sep 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 Oct 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Loch Sheldrake's scale — its 6a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Loch Sheldrake'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 Loch Sheldrake’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Loch Sheldrake's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,058 acres it covers and 384 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Loch Sheldrake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Loch Sheldrake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 18 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 384 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Loch Sheldrake, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Loch Sheldrake's boundary and the 1,058 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Loch Sheldrake's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Loch Sheldrakelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Loch Sheldrake's 1,058 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sullivan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sullivan County
- The growing challenges every New York grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New York
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Sullivan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Loch Sheldrake's 1,058 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Loch Sheldrake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,058 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Loch Sheldrake-wide figureread your own land →
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