Benton Ridge, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Benton Ridge, 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 Benton Ridge 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 Benton Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Benton Ridge — the short answer
Benton Ridge, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 210 days between hard freezes, across 240 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~210
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 240 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 Benton Ridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Benton Ridge's 210-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Benton Ridge
Each reading below is measured for Benton Ridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBenton Ridge runs about 210 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
MeasuredBenton Ridge 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 Benton Ridge is in
Benton Ridge sits in the Huron/Erie Lake Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Benton Ridge's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Hancock County is mostly Eastern Corn Belt Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Benton Ridge
Every plant below cleared Benton Ridge's own zone 6a and its 210-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Benton Ridge?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Documented around Benton Ridge
Survey cells within 31 miles of Benton Ridge checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 37 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Benton Ridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Benton Ridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KOTTEN ENTERPRISESBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- FAA FDY VORUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- BP OIL CO. #17141Underground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- JOHN HELDMAN PROPERTIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- BUCKEYE PIPELINE LPBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- HA-14 AUGUSTINE NEAR RAWSONNitrate · 4.5 mi
- GARNER TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 4.6 mi
- ACRES OF IMPORTSBrownfields · 4.7 mi
- LIBERTY-BENTON LOCAL SCHOOLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- DNC HYDRAULICBrownfields · 5.6 mi
- HANCOCK COUNTY ENGINEERBrownfields · 5.7 mi
- NORTHWEST OHIO RECYCLINGBrownfields · 5.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Benton Ridge'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 Benton Ridge.
Total Sites
302
within ~10 miles of Benton Ridge
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Benton Ridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Benton Ridge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Benton Ridge, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Benton Ridge — Toxics Release Inventory (20 sites) and Superfund (4 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Benton Ridge
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 Benton Ridge average
Your land is one point inside Benton Ridge
Everything above resolves to Benton Ridge as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 240 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 Benton Ridge Average
Benton Ridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Benton Ridge
- ●One soil character for all of Benton Ridge
- ●Frost dates read at Benton Ridge's scale: Apr 10 to Nov 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Benton Ridge's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Benton Ridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Benton Ridge, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Benton Ridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Benton Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Benton Ridge average
How we know this about Benton Ridge
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 Benton Ridge’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 Benton Ridge
When does frost risk typically end in Benton Ridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Benton Ridge typically lands around Apr 10, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Benton Ridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Benton Ridge typically arrives around Nov 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 23, so the watching starts about Oct 7 — about 210 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Benton Ridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Benton Ridge sees about 210 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Nov 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 23, about 175 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Benton Ridge?
The federal record around Benton Ridge is a meaningful one — 302 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (141), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Benton Ridge?
From about Oct 7 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Benton Ridge's scale — its 6a band and its 210-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Benton Ridge'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 Benton Ridge’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Benton Ridge's own scale — its own ~210-day season between 28°F freezes, the 240 acres it covers and 302 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Benton Ridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Benton Ridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Nov 6 and the ~210-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 302 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Benton Ridge, the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Benton Ridge's boundary and the 240 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~210-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Benton Ridge sits in the Huron/Erie Lake Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Benton Ridge checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Benton Ridge's 240 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hancock County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hancock County
- The growing challenges every Ohio grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Ohio
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Hancock County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Benton Ridge's 240 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Benton Ridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 240 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Benton Ridge-wide figureread your own land →
More in Ohio
Wider growing context
What grows across OhioBenton Ridge sits outside our named growing regions, so Ohio as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides