Chalkhill, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Chalkhill, 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 Chalkhill 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 Chalkhill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chalkhill — the short answer
Chalkhill, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 524 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~199
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 524 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 Chalkhill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chalkhill's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chalkhill
Each reading below is measured for Chalkhill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredChalkhill runs about 199 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
MeasuredChalkhill 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 Chalkhill is in
Chalkhill sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Chalkhill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fayette County.
What Grows in Chalkhill
Every plant below cleared Chalkhill's own zone 6a and its 199-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chalkhill?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 1 — 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 Chalkhill
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Chalkhill, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Chalkhill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chalkhill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HERRINGS GARDEN CTR CHALK HILL SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- NEMACOLIN WOODLANDS RESORT & SPABrownfields · 1.1 mi
- FA 509 (LUSMIric05R)Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- DOMINION TRANS N SUMMIT COMP STABrownfields · 2.0 mi
- HOPWOOD TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- SUMMIT INN RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- TETCO VLV LN 49 MP 23.8Brownfields · 2.4 mi
- SPADE BUS LINESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- FA 87Nitrate · 2.6 mi
- FORT NECESSITY NATL BATTLEFIELDBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- FA 17 Fayette County Observation WellNitrate · 2.9 mi
- JUMONVILLEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chalkhill'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 Chalkhill.
Total Sites
303
within ~10 miles of Chalkhill
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chalkhill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chalkhill
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Chalkhill
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 Chalkhill average
Your land is one point inside Chalkhill
Everything above resolves to Chalkhill as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 524 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 Chalkhill Average
Chalkhill Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Chalkhill
- ●One soil character for all of Chalkhill
- ●Frost dates read at Chalkhill's scale: Apr 16 to Nov 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chalkhill's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chalkhill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chalkhill, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chalkhill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chalkhill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chalkhill average
How we know this about Chalkhill
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 Chalkhill’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 Chalkhill
When does frost risk typically end in Chalkhill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chalkhill typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Chalkhill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chalkhill typically arrives around Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 18, so the watching starts about Oct 2 — about 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chalkhill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chalkhill sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 18, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chalkhill?
The federal record around Chalkhill is a meaningful one — 303 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (159), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Chalkhill?
From about Oct 2 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chalkhill's scale — its 6a band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chalkhill'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 Chalkhill’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Chalkhill's own scale — its own ~199-day season between 28°F freezes, the 524 acres it covers and 303 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chalkhill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chalkhill's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Nov 1 and the ~199-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 303 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chalkhill, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chalkhill's boundary and the 524 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~199-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chalkhill's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Chalkhilllydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chalkhill's 524 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fayette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fayette 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 Fayette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chalkhill's 524 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chalkhill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 524 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Chalkhill-wide figureread your own land →
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