Windham, 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.
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 Windham, 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 Windham 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 Windham — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Windham — the short answer
Windham, Ohio: USDA zone 6a, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~191
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Windham's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Windham's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Windham
Each reading below is measured for Windham itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWindham runs about 191 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
MeasuredWindham 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 Windham is in
Windham sits in the Erie Drift Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Windham's own centroid rather than borrowed from Portage County.
What Grows in Windham
Every plant below cleared Windham's own zone 6a and its 191-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Windham?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Windham
Spotted lanternfly documented 12 miles from Windham, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Windham
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Windham. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MKH PROPERTIES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- HARBISON WALKER REFRACTORIES PLANTBrownfields · 1600 ft
- HARBISON WALKER REFRACTORIES PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
- CIRCLE K #5683Brownfields · 1700 ft
- GAS & FOOD MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- WINDHAM ALLOYSSuperfund · 1.0 mi
- C & B RECYCLINGToxics Release Inventory · 1.0 mi
- KAZWAY INCBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- HERBS GAS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- HERBS GAS STATIONBrownfields · 3.3 mi
- BAY WINDOW INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- COLONIAL AUTO BODY AND GLASSBrownfields · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Windham'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 Windham.
Total Sites
190
within ~10 miles of Windham
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Windham
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Windham
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Windham, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Windham — PFAS (4 sites) and Superfund (5 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.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Windham
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 Windham average
Your land is one point inside Windham
Everything above resolves to Windham as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Windham Average
Windham Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Windham
- ●One soil character for all of Windham
- ●Frost dates read at Windham's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Windham's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Windham
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Windham, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Windham averages can't show:
We read public map data around Windham — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Windham average
How we know this about Windham
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 Windham’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 Windham
When does frost risk typically end in Windham?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Windham typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Windham?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Windham typically arrives around Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 14, so the watching starts about Sep 28 — about 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Windham?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Windham sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 14, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Windham?
The federal record around Windham is a meaningful one — 190 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (112), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Windham?
From about Sep 28 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Windham's scale — its 6a band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Windham'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 Windham’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Windham's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,316 acres it covers and 190 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Windham's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Windham's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 28 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 190 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Windham, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Windham's boundary and the 1,316 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~191-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Windham's own centroid, the Erie Drift PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Windhamlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Windham's 1,316 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Portage County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Portage 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 Portage County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Windham's 1,316 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Windham you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,316 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Windham-wide figureread your own land →