Norwalk, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Norwalk, 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 Norwalk 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 Norwalk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Norwalk — the short answer
Norwalk, Ohio: USDA zone 6b, about 207 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~207
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 6K 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 6b is Norwalk's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Norwalk's 207-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Norwalk
Each reading below is measured for Norwalk itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorwalk runs about 207 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
MeasuredNorwalk sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Norwalk is in
Norwalk sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Norwalk's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Huron County is mostly Eastern Corn Belt Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Norwalk
Every plant below cleared Norwalk's own zone 6b and its 207-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Norwalk?
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 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Norwalk
Spotted lanternfly documented 14 miles from Norwalk, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Norwalk
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Norwalk. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BP OIL CO. #05331Underground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- R & D EQUIPMENT INCBrownfields · 550 ft
- MODEL CLEANERS INCBrownfields · 600 ft
- STREET DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- LANDOLL'S SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- WEIMER'S AUTO SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- REFLECTOR-HERALD, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- LINWOOD AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 1700 ft
- MAPLE CITY BUILDERS, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CITY OF NORWALK POLICE DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- SEVEN-D TRUCKING, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- DICKS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Norwalk'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 Norwalk.
Total Sites
257
within ~10 miles of Norwalk
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Norwalk
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Norwalk
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Norwalk, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 21 sites within ~10 miles of Norwalk. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Norwalk
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 Norwalk average
Your land is one point inside Norwalk
Everything above resolves to Norwalk as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K 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 city 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 Norwalk Average
Norwalk Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Norwalk
- ●One soil character for all of Norwalk
- ●Frost dates read at Norwalk's scale: Apr 13 to Nov 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Norwalk's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Norwalk
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Norwalk, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Norwalk averages can't show:
We read public map data around Norwalk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Norwalk average
How we know this about Norwalk
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Norwalk’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Norwalk
When does frost risk typically end in Norwalk?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Norwalk typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Norwalk?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Norwalk typically arrives around Nov 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 23, so the watching starts about Oct 7 — about 207 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Norwalk?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Norwalk sees about 207 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Nov 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 23, about 172 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Norwalk?
The federal record around Norwalk is a meaningful one — 257 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (151), 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 Norwalk?
From about Oct 7 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Norwalk's scale — its 6b band and its 207-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Norwalk'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 Norwalk’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Norwalk's own scale — its own ~207-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,674 acres it covers and 257 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Norwalk's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Norwalk's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Nov 6 and the ~207-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 257 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Norwalk, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Norwalk's boundary and the 5,674 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~207-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Norwalk sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Norwalklydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Norwalk's 5,674 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 Norwalk's 5,674 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Norwalk you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,674 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 Norwalk-wide figureread your own land →
More in Ohio
Wider growing context
What grows across OhioNorwalk sits outside our named growing regions, so Ohio as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides