Zanesville, Ohio, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Zanesville, 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 Zanesville 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 Zanesville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Zanesville — the short answer
Zanesville, Ohio: USDA zone 6b, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- 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
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Zanesville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Zanesville's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Zanesville
Each reading below is measured for Zanesville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredZanesville runs about 197 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
MeasuredZanesville 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 Zanesville is in
Zanesville sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Zanesville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Muskingum County.
What Grows in Zanesville
Every plant below cleared Zanesville's own zone 6b and its 197-day season. Each card opens that plant's Ohio profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Zanesville?
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 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around Zanesville
Spotted lanternfly documented 8 miles from Zanesville, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Zanesville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Zanesville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GOOD SAMARITAN MEDICAL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- FOREST & MAPLE BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- MONRO/PROCARE #855Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- BP OIL COBrownfields · 850 ft
- BP OIL CO. #08214Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- CLARK STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #3971Brownfields · 1100 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #4810Brownfields · 1200 ft
- BLUE & ADAIR DUCHESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MR TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- VLALEN CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- KEN BROWN'S GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Zanesville'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 Zanesville.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Zanesville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Zanesville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Zanesville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Zanesville — Superfund (7 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Zanesville
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 Zanesville average
Your land is one point inside Zanesville
Everything above resolves to Zanesville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 8K 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 Zanesville Average
Zanesville Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Zanesville
- ●One soil character for all of Zanesville
- ●Frost dates read at Zanesville's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Zanesville's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Zanesville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Zanesville, Ohio — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Zanesville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Zanesville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Zanesville average
How we know this about Zanesville
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 Zanesville’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 Zanesville
When does frost risk typically end in Zanesville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Zanesville typically lands around Apr 14, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Zanesville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Zanesville 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 197 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Zanesville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Zanesville sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 14, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Zanesville?
The federal record around Zanesville is a meaningful one — 356 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (194), 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 Zanesville?
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 Zanesville's scale — its 6b band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Zanesville'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 Zanesville’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Zanesville's own scale — its own ~197-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,534 acres it covers and 356 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Zanesville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Zanesville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 14 and Oct 28 and the ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 356 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Zanesville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Zanesville's boundary and the 7,534 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~197-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Zanesville's own centroid, the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Zanesvillelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Zanesville's 7,534 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Muskingum County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Muskingum 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 Muskingum County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Zanesville's 7,534 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Zanesville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,534 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 Zanesville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Ohio
Growing region
Nearby growing guides