Bradford, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Bradford, 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 Bradford 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 Bradford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bradford — the short answer
Bradford, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 5b, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 5b is Bradford's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bradford's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bradford
Each reading below is measured for Bradford itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBradford runs about 162 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
MeasuredBradford sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Bradford is in
Bradford sits in the North Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Bradford's own centroid rather than borrowed from McKean County.
What Grows in Bradford
Every plant below cleared Bradford's own zone 5b and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bradford?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — 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 Bradford
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Bradford, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Bradford
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bradford. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CARL E SWANSON & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- FORMER BENTLEY WELDING & FABRICATINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- PACIFIC PRIDE BRADFORDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- EW BISETT & SONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CROSBY MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- VINELLIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- DRESSER MFG DIVUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- KWIK FILL M 61Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- KWIK FILL M0061 201Brownfields · 1700 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORE NO 2464Brownfields · 1700 ft
- US POSTAL OFCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #4270Brownfields · 1900 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bradford'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 Bradford.
Total Sites
198
within ~10 miles of Bradford
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bradford
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bradford
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bradford, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 13 sites within ~10 miles of Bradford. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Bradford
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 Bradford average
Your land is one point inside Bradford
Everything above resolves to Bradford 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 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 Bradford Average
Bradford Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Bradford
- ●One soil character for all of Bradford
- ●Frost dates read at Bradford's scale: May 6 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bradford's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bradford
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bradford, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bradford averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bradford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bradford average
How we know this about Bradford
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 Bradford’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 Bradford
When does frost risk typically end in Bradford?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bradford typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Bradford?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bradford typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bradford?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bradford sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Oct 1, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bradford?
The federal record around Bradford is a meaningful one — 198 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (105), 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 Bradford?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bradford's scale — its 5b band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bradford'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 Bradford’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Bradford's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,129 acres it covers and 198 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bradford's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bradford's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 15 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 198 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bradford, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bradford's boundary and the 2,129 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bradford's own centroid, the North Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Bradfordlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bradford's 2,129 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McKean County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McKean County
- The growing challenges every Pennsylvania grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Pennsylvania
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom McKean County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bradford's 2,129 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bradford you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,129 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 Bradford-wide figureread your own land →