Middlefield, 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.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Middlefield, 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 Middlefield 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 Middlefield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Middlefield — the short answer
Middlefield, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Middlefield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Middlefield's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Middlefield
Each reading below is measured for Middlefield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMiddlefield runs about 196 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
MeasuredMiddlefield 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 Middlefield is in
Middlefield sits in the Erie Drift Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Middlefield's own centroid rather than borrowed from Geauga County.
What Grows in Middlefield
Every plant below cleared Middlefield's own zone 6a and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Middlefield?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 31 — 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 Middlefield
Spotted lanternfly documented 24 miles from Middlefield, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Middlefield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Middlefield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JOHNSON RUBBER CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- JOHNSON RUBBER COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 600 ft
- WINDSTREAM WESTERN RESERVE, INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- MASCO CABINETRY MIDDLEFIELD LLC PLANT 2Toxics Release Inventory · 700 ft
- MASCO CABINETRY MIDDLEFIELD LLC PLANT 2Brownfields · 700 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #4349Brownfields · 900 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #8232Brownfields · 1200 ft
- FLAMBEAU PRODUCTS CORP.Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- FLAMBEAU PRODUCTS CORPBrownfields · 1300 ft
- VILLAGE OF MIDDLEFIELDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- KRAFTMAID CABINETRY INC PLANT 1Brownfields · 2500 ft
- KRAFTMAID CABINETRY INC PLANT 1Toxics Release Inventory · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Middlefield'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 Middlefield.
Total Sites
185
within ~10 miles of Middlefield
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Middlefield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Middlefield
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Middlefield, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Middlefield — Toxics Release Inventory (22 sites) and Superfund (3 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 Middlefield
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 Middlefield average
Your land is one point inside Middlefield
Everything above resolves to Middlefield as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Middlefield Average
Middlefield Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Middlefield
- ●One soil character for all of Middlefield
- ●Frost dates read at Middlefield's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 31
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Middlefield's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Middlefield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Middlefield, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Middlefield averages can't show:
We read public map data around Middlefield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Middlefield average
How we know this about Middlefield
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 Middlefield’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 Middlefield
When does frost risk typically end in Middlefield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Middlefield typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Middlefield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Middlefield typically arrives around Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 17, so the watching starts about Oct 1 — about 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Middlefield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Middlefield sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 17, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Middlefield?
The federal record around Middlefield is a meaningful one — 185 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (79), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Middlefield?
From about Oct 1 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 31 (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 31. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Middlefield's scale — its 6a band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Middlefield'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 Middlefield’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Middlefield's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,163 acres it covers and 185 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Middlefield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Middlefield's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 31 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 185 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Middlefield, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Middlefield's boundary and the 2,163 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Middlefield's own centroid, the Erie Drift PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Middlefieldlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Middlefield's 2,163 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Geauga County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Geauga 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 Geauga County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Middlefield's 2,163 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Middlefield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,163 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Middlefield-wide figureread your own land →