Northridge, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Northridge, 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 Northridge 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 Northridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Northridge — the short answer
Northridge, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 206 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~206
- 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 Northridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Northridge's 206-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Northridge
Each reading below is measured for Northridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorthridge 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
MeasuredNorthridge 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 Northridge is in
Northridge sits in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Northridge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clark County.
What Grows in Northridge
Every plant below cleared Northridge'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 Northridge?
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 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
Documented around Northridge
Spotted lanternfly documented 8 miles from Northridge, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Northridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Northridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NORTHRIDGE MARATHONUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- RIDGEFIELD INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- #37 SPRINGFIELD SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SPRINGFIELD FORDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #214Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- SPEEDWAY 3369Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- CLARK COUNTY UTILITIES DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- SPEEDWAY 3369Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- NAVISTAR TRUCK SALES PROCESS CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- INTERNATIONAL MOTORS LLC TRUCK SPECIALTY CENTERBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- SUPERIOR TRIM SPRINGFIELD DIV (0812100525)Brownfields · 1.3 mi
- SUPERIOR TRIM SPRINGFIELD DIV (0812100525)Toxics Release Inventory · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Northridge'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 Northridge.
Total Sites
545
within ~10 miles of Northridge
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
12 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Northridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Northridge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Northridge, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Northridge — Superfund (12 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (43 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Northridge
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 Northridge average
Your land is one point inside Northridge
Everything above resolves to Northridge 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 Northridge Average
Northridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Northridge
- ●One soil character for all of Northridge
- ●Frost dates read at Northridge's scale: Apr 9 to Nov 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Northridge's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Northridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Northridge, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Northridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Northridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Northridge average
How we know this about Northridge
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 Northridge’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 Northridge
When does frost risk typically end in Northridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Northridge typically lands around Apr 9, 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 Apr 30.
When is the first frost in Northridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Northridge typically arrives around Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 18, so the watching starts about Oct 2 — about 206 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Northridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Northridge sees about 206 frost-free days — roughly Apr 9 through Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 30 to Oct 18, about 171 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Northridge?
The federal record around Northridge is a meaningful one — 545 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (288), 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 Northridge?
From about Oct 2 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Northridge's scale — its 6a band and its 206-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Northridge'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 Northridge’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Northridge's own scale — its own ~206-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,960 acres it covers and 545 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Northridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Northridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 9 and Nov 1 and the ~206-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 545 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Northridge, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Northridge's boundary and the 1,960 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 Northridge's own centroid, the Eastern Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Northridgelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Northridge's 1,960 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clark County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clark 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 Clark County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Northridge's 1,960 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Northridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,960 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 Northridge-wide figureread your own land →
More in Ohio
Wider growing context
What grows across OhioNorthridge sits outside our named growing regions, so Ohio as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides