Cairnbrook, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cairnbrook, 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 Cairnbrook 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 Cairnbrook — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cairnbrook — the short answer
Cairnbrook, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 540 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~191
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 540 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 Cairnbrook's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cairnbrook's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cairnbrook
Each reading below is measured for Cairnbrook itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCairnbrook 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
MeasuredCairnbrook 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 Cairnbrook is in
Cairnbrook sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cairnbrook's own centroid rather than borrowed from Somerset County.
What Grows in Cairnbrook
Every plant below cleared Cairnbrook's own zone 6a and its 191-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cairnbrook?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — 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 Cairnbrook
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Cairnbrook, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Cairnbrook
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cairnbrook. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SHADE LDFLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- SHADE CTL CITY SCH DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- GOGA SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- JD OPRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- CAIRNBROOK GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- JOHNSTOWN REGIONAL ENERGY - SHADEBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- MILLER & MILLER GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- SUNOCO CTL CITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- SCAIFES GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- ROCK CUT SVC CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- CTL CITY SAND PLTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- GOLEMANS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cairnbrook'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 Cairnbrook.
Total Sites
205
within ~10 miles of Cairnbrook
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cairnbrook
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cairnbrook
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cairnbrook, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Cairnbrook. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Cairnbrook
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 Cairnbrook average
Your land is one point inside Cairnbrook
Everything above resolves to Cairnbrook as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 540 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 Cairnbrook Average
Cairnbrook Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Cairnbrook
- ●One soil character for all of Cairnbrook
- ●Frost dates read at Cairnbrook's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cairnbrook's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cairnbrook
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cairnbrook, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cairnbrook averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cairnbrook — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cairnbrook average
How we know this about Cairnbrook
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 Cairnbrook’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 Cairnbrook
When does frost risk typically end in Cairnbrook?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cairnbrook typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Cairnbrook?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cairnbrook typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cairnbrook?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cairnbrook sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 12, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cairnbrook?
The federal record around Cairnbrook is a meaningful one — 205 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (119), 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 Cairnbrook?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cairnbrook's scale — its 6a band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cairnbrook'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 Cairnbrook’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Cairnbrook's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 540 acres it covers and 205 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cairnbrook's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cairnbrook's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 26 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 205 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cairnbrook, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cairnbrook's boundary and the 540 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 Cairnbrook's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Cairnbrooklydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cairnbrook's 540 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Somerset County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Somerset 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 Somerset County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cairnbrook's 540 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cairnbrook you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 540 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 Cairnbrook-wide figureread your own land →