Cuyahoga County, in Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Cuyahoga County lies within the Lake Erie Shore (Ohio North Coast) — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Cuyahoga County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Cuyahoga County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Cuyahoga County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cuyahoga County — the short answer
Cuyahoga County, Ohio: USDA zone 7a, about 239 days between hard freezes, across 293K acres.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~239
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 293K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 7a is Cuyahoga County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cuyahoga County's 239-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Cuyahoga County
Across a year, Cuyahoga County accumulates about 2,919 growing degree days above 50°F, about 3 fewer than the middle Ohio county — ahead of 40 of Ohio’s 88 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Cuyahoga County
Across Cuyahoga County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Mahoning, Ellsworth, and Brecksville are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally somewhat poorly drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.3–6.3, moderately acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Somewhat poorly drained
Prime farmland
6%
Hydric soils
8%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Cuyahoga County
The USDA soil survey maps 39% of Cuyahoga County as somewhat poorly drained — but another 29% drains differently: 13% moderately well drained, 11% well drained.
Mahoning is the most extensive named soil at 29% of mapped acres, then Ellsworth (12%) and Brecksville (4%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Cuyahoga County
Each reading below is measured for Cuyahoga County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Cuyahoga County are somewhat poorly drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that sheds water slowly.
Beds can stay saturated for days after heavy rain, and the roots of most vegetables, berries, and fruit trees suffocate or rot in soil that never drains.
Raised beds or mounded rows lift roots above the wet zone; choose water-tolerant crops for the lowest spots.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Cuyahoga County runs about pH 5.3–6.3, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredCuyahoga County runs about 239 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
MeasuredCuyahoga County sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Cuyahoga County is in
Cuyahoga County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Erie Drift Plain (75%) and Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands (25%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Cuyahoga County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Cuyahoga County's own USDA zone 7a and its own 239-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile.
Is it too late to plant in Cuyahoga County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 24 — 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 Cuyahoga County
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Cuyahoga County, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle30 documented records
- monarch butterfly1,094 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Cuyahoga County
USGS estimates 236 lb of Glyphosate on Cuyahoga County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (79 lb) and Metolachlor-s (62 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Cuyahoga County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Cuyahoga County — 5,284 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 74 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Cuyahoga County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Cuyahoga County
Closest first, across Cuyahoga County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BRATENAHL PLACE CONDO ASSOC.Underground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- CLEVELAND WATER POLLUTION CONTROLBrownfields · 2100 ft
- COYNE TEXTILE SERVICESBrownfields · 2200 ft
- LTV STEEL CO., INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- UNDERCAR EXPRESS LLCBrownfields · 2500 ft
- LTV COPPERWELD PIPE & TUBE GROUP CLEVELAND PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 2600 ft
- RITRAMA DURAMARK (1318007355)Toxics Release Inventory · 2600 ft
- SIGNLITE CORPORATIONBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- FLOW POLYMERS INC *Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- FLOW POLYMERS INC *Toxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- ATI AVIATION SERVICES LLCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- CITY OF CLEVELAND GLENVILLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cuyahoga County'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 Cuyahoga County.
Sources Checked
across Cuyahoga County
Severity Distribution
across Cuyahoga County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cuyahoga County, two things run higher than the national average across Cuyahoga County — Toxics Release Inventory (523 sites) and Superfund (74 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Cuyahoga County
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 Cuyahoga County average
Your land is one point inside Cuyahoga County
Everything above resolves to Cuyahoga County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 293K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Cuyahoga County Average
Cuyahoga County Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Cuyahoga County
- ●One soil character for all of Cuyahoga County
- ●Frost dates read at Cuyahoga County's scale: Mar 30 to Nov 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cuyahoga County's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Cuyahoga County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cuyahoga County, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cuyahoga County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cuyahoga County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cuyahoga County average
How we know this about Cuyahoga County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Cuyahoga County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Cuyahoga County
When does frost risk typically end in Cuyahoga County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cuyahoga County typically lands around Mar 30, 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 20.
How long is the growing season in Cuyahoga County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cuyahoga County sees about 239 frost-free days — roughly Mar 30 through Nov 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 20 to Nov 10, about 204 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cuyahoga County?
The federal record around Cuyahoga County is a meaningful one — 5,284 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (2,782), 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.
Everything above is measured at Cuyahoga County's scale — its 7a band and its 239-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cuyahoga County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Ohio's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Cuyahoga County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Cuyahoga County's own scale — its own ~239-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 5,284 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cuyahoga County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cuyahoga County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~239-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Cuyahoga CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 5,284 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile outFederal environmental registers
- Cuyahoga County's boundary and the 292,628 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~239-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Cuyahoga County spans, Erie Drift Plain the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Cuyahoga County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Cuyahoga County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Ohio grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Ohio
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Cuyahoga County — the ~239 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cuyahoga County's 292,628 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 5,284 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Cuyahoga Countyread your own land →