Hamler, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hamler, 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 Hamler 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 Hamler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hamler — the short answer
Hamler, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 208 days between hard freezes, across 529 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~208
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 529 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 Hamler's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hamler's 208-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hamler
Each reading below is measured for Hamler itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHamler runs about 208 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
MeasuredHamler 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 Hamler is in
Hamler sits in the Huron/Erie Lake Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hamler's own centroid rather than borrowed from Henry County.
What Grows in Hamler
Every plant below cleared Hamler's own zone 6a and its 208-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hamler?
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 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 5 — 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 Hamler
Spotted lanternfly documented 29 miles from Hamler, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Hamler
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hamler. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HONEMANN GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- JUSTOP CARRY-OUT, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- AT&TUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ROBERT BLUE TRUCKING, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- HARDWOOD CONNECTIONBrownfields · 1900 ft
- HY-42 NR DESHLER OHNitrate · 4.4 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #11952Brownfields · 5.0 mi
- VZB - HOGFOHUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- WILHELM FARMS (SATELLITE HEIFER/STEER FACILITY)CAFO · 5.2 mi
- HOLGATE PARTY MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- ABANDON SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- HOLGATE MARATHONUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hamler'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 Hamler.
Total Sites
77
within ~10 miles of Hamler
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hamler
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hamler
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hamler, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hamler — Superfund (3 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (5 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Hamler
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 Hamler average
Your land is one point inside Hamler
Everything above resolves to Hamler as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 529 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 Hamler Average
Hamler Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Hamler
- ●One soil character for all of Hamler
- ●Frost dates read at Hamler's scale: Apr 11 to Nov 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hamler's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hamler
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hamler, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hamler averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hamler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hamler average
How we know this about Hamler
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 Hamler’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 Hamler
When does frost risk typically end in Hamler?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hamler typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Hamler?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hamler typically arrives around Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 22, so the watching starts about Oct 6 — about 208 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hamler?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hamler sees about 208 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 22, about 173 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hamler?
The federal record around Hamler is a meaningful one — 77 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (44), 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 Hamler?
From about Oct 6 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hamler's scale — its 6a band and its 208-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hamler'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 Hamler’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Hamler's own scale — its own ~208-day season between 28°F freezes, the 529 acres it covers and 77 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hamler's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hamler's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Nov 5 and the ~208-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 77 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hamler, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hamler's boundary and the 529 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~208-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hamler's own centroid, the Huron/Erie Lake PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Hamlerlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hamler's 529 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Henry County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Henry 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 Henry County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hamler's 529 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hamler you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 529 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 Hamler-wide figureread your own land →
More in Ohio
Wider growing context
What grows across OhioHamler sits outside our named growing regions, so Ohio as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides