De Graff, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — 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, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in De Graff, 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 De Graff 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 De Graff — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
De Graff — the short answer
De Graff, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 206 days between hard freezes, across 642 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 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~206
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 642 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 De Graff's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against De Graff's 206-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in De Graff
Each reading below is measured for De Graff itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDe Graff runs about 206 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
MeasuredDe Graff 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 De Graff is in
De Graff sits in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at De Graff's own centroid rather than borrowed from Logan County.
What Grows in De Graff
Every plant below cleared De Graff's own zone 6a and its 206-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in De Graff?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 2 — 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 De Graff
Spotted lanternfly documented 28 miles from De Graff, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near De Graff
Closest first, within ~10 miles of De Graff. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAMILY DOLLAR #11418Brownfields · 450 ft
- VILLAGE PANTRY #2723 (MARATHON)Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- WREN'S SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- HIRSCHFELD AGRI-SERVICE, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- SCHINDEWOLF WAREHOUSINGBrownfields · 1500 ft
- RIVERSIDE HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- POOL BROTHERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- PLEASANT TOWNSHIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- QUINCY CASTINGS, INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 3.2 mi
- LO-75 MIAM NAWQA LUS WELL BVAS AG-19Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- SPEND A DAY MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- LO-76Nitrate · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from De Graff'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 De Graff.
Total Sites
137
within ~10 miles of De Graff
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of De Graff
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of De Graff
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around De Graff, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 9 sites within ~10 miles of De Graff. 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.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in De Graff
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 De Graff average
Your land is one point inside De Graff
Everything above resolves to De Graff as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 642 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 De Graff Average
De Graff Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across De Graff
- ●One soil character for all of De Graff
- ●Frost dates read at De Graff's scale: Apr 10 to Nov 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not De Graff's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in De Graff
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in De Graff, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that De Graff averages can't show:
We read public map data around De Graff — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the De Graff average
How we know this about De Graff
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 De Graff’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 De Graff
When does frost risk typically end in De Graff?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in De Graff 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 De Graff?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in De Graff typically arrives around Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 19, so the watching starts about Oct 3 — about 206 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in De Graff?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, De Graff sees about 206 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 19, about 171 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in De Graff?
The federal record around De Graff shows 137 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (66), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in De Graff?
From about Oct 3 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 2 (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 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at De Graff's scale — its 6a band and its 206-day season. Your yard writes its own version of De Graff'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 De Graff’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at De Graff's own scale — its own ~206-day season between 28°F freezes, the 642 acres it covers and 137 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- De Graff's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- De Graff's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Nov 2 and the ~206-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 137 documented contamination sites on the federal record near De Graff, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- De Graff's boundary and the 642 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~206-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at De Graff's own centroid, the Eastern Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of De Grafflydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so De Graff's 642 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Logan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Logan 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 Logan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among De Graff's 642 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of De Graff you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 642 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 De Graff-wide figureread your own land →
More in Ohio
Wider growing context
What grows across OhioDe Graff sits outside our named growing regions, so Ohio as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides