North Lima, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in North Lima, 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 Lima 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 Lima — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Lima — the short answer
North Lima, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Lima's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Lima's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Lima
Each reading below is measured for North Lima itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorth Lima runs about 186 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
MeasuredNorth Lima 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 Lima is in
North Lima sits in the Erie Drift Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at North Lima's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mahoning County.
What Grows in North Lima
Every plant below cleared North Lima's own zone 6a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Lima?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around North Lima
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from North Lima, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near North Lima
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Lima. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BP OIL NO 6263Brownfields · 1500 ft
- MAHONING COUNTY ENGINEERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CLOSED SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- FORMER HOMESTRETCH FENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- WW HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONINGBrownfields · 2300 ft
- BP OIL CO. #06263Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CLOSED GAS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SHEELY''S FURN. & APPL. CO., INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- OHIO VALLEY MUSHROOM FARM, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SCOT TRUCKSTOP OF NINTH LIMABrownfields · 0.8 mi
- DART TRUCKING COMPANY INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- ABF FREIGHT SYSTEMS INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Lima'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 Lima.
Total Sites
641
within ~10 miles of North Lima
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Lima
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Lima
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Lima, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 8 sites within ~10 miles of North Lima. 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.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in North Lima
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 Lima average
Your land is one point inside North Lima
Everything above resolves to North Lima as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Lima Average
North Lima Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across North Lima
- ●One soil character for all of North Lima
- ●Frost dates read at North Lima's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Lima's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Lima
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Lima, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Lima averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Lima — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Lima average
How we know this about North Lima
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 Lima’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 Lima
When does frost risk typically end in North Lima?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Lima typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in North Lima?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Lima typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Lima?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Lima sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 10, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Lima?
The federal record around North Lima is a meaningful one — 641 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (334), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Lima?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at North Lima's scale — its 6a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Lima'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 Lima’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at North Lima's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,388 acres it covers and 641 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Lima's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- North Lima's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 24 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 641 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Lima, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Lima's boundary and the 4,388 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Lima's own centroid, the Erie Drift PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of North Limalydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Lima's 4,388 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mahoning County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mahoning 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 Mahoning County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Lima's 4,388 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Lima you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,388 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Lima-wide figureread your own land →