North Fairfield, 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.
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 North Fairfield, 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 North Fairfield 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 North Fairfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Fairfield — the short answer
North Fairfield, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 202 days between hard freezes, across 296 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~202
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 296 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 North Fairfield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Fairfield's 202-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Fairfield
Each reading below is measured for North Fairfield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorth Fairfield runs about 202 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
MeasuredNorth Fairfield 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 North Fairfield is in
North Fairfield sits in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at North Fairfield's own centroid rather than borrowed from Huron County.
What Grows in North Fairfield
Every plant below cleared North Fairfield's own zone 6a and its 202-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Fairfield?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 4 — 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 North Fairfield
Spotted lanternfly documented 24 miles from North Fairfield, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near North Fairfield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Fairfield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COON'S CONCRETEBrownfields · 950 ft
- RUGGLES, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- AT&TUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- ELROY WALCHER & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- AKRON CONTROL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- HU-11 NR WILLARD OHNitrate · 4.2 mi
- OHIO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION HURON COUNTY GARAGEBrownfields · 5.0 mi
- GERALD HAHNUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- STEVE'S AUTO SERVICESBrownfields · 5.1 mi
- BOOSE FARMS, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- WILLARD CITYPFAS · 5.3 mi
- NORW - SOUTH DISTRICTPFAS · 5.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Fairfield'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 North Fairfield.
Total Sites
194
within ~10 miles of North Fairfield
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Fairfield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Fairfield
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Fairfield, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of North Fairfield — PFAS (3 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (14 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in North Fairfield
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 North Fairfield average
Your land is one point inside North Fairfield
Everything above resolves to North Fairfield as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 296 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 North Fairfield Average
North Fairfield Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across North Fairfield
- ●One soil character for all of North Fairfield
- ●Frost dates read at North Fairfield's scale: Apr 16 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Fairfield's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Fairfield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Fairfield, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Fairfield averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Fairfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Fairfield average
How we know this about North Fairfield
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 North Fairfield’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 North Fairfield
When does frost risk typically end in North Fairfield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Fairfield typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in North Fairfield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Fairfield typically arrives around Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 21, so the watching starts about Oct 5 — about 202 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Fairfield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Fairfield sees about 202 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 21, about 167 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Fairfield?
The federal record around North Fairfield is a meaningful one — 194 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (117), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 North Fairfield?
From about Oct 5 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at North Fairfield's scale — its 6a band and its 202-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Fairfield'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 North Fairfield’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at North Fairfield's own scale — its own ~202-day season between 28°F freezes, the 296 acres it covers and 194 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Fairfield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- North Fairfield's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Nov 4 and the ~202-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 194 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Fairfield, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Fairfield's boundary and the 296 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~202-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Fairfield's own centroid, the Eastern Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of North Fairfieldlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Fairfield's 296 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Huron County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Huron 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 Huron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Fairfield's 296 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Fairfield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 296 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 North Fairfield-wide figureread your own land →
More in Ohio
Wider growing context
What grows across OhioNorth Fairfield sits outside our named growing regions, so Ohio as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides