Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Conneaut Lake, 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 Conneaut Lake 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 Conneaut Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Conneaut Lake — the short answer
Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 198 days between hard freezes, across 240 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)
- Nov 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~198
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 240 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 Conneaut Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Conneaut Lake's 198-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Conneaut Lake
Each reading below is measured for Conneaut Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredConneaut Lake runs about 198 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
MeasuredConneaut Lake 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 Conneaut Lake is in
Conneaut Lake sits in the Erie Drift Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Conneaut Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Crawford County.
What Grows in Conneaut Lake
Every plant below cleared Conneaut Lake's own zone 6a and its 198-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Conneaut Lake?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 Nov 4 — 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 Conneaut Lake
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Conneaut Lake, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Conneaut Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Conneaut Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DO CO INCBrownfields · 400 ft
- CW 2045Nitrate · 450 ft
- ALLTEL PA CONNEAUT LAKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- GREENVILLE SAVINGS BANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- MATTS GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- ROBERT MOSS PROPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CONNEAUT LAKE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SHEETZ 159Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- SHEETZ STORE NO 159Brownfields · 1300 ft
- CONNEAUT LAKE VETERINARY CLINICUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- SS 303 DUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CONNEAUT LAKE NAVIGATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Conneaut Lake'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 Conneaut Lake.
Total Sites
316
within ~10 miles of Conneaut Lake
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Conneaut Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Conneaut Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Conneaut Lake, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 21 sites within ~10 miles of Conneaut Lake. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Conneaut Lake
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 Conneaut Lake average
Your land is one point inside Conneaut Lake
Everything above resolves to Conneaut Lake as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 240 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 Conneaut Lake Average
Conneaut Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Conneaut Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Conneaut Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Conneaut Lake's scale: Apr 20 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Conneaut Lake's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Conneaut Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Conneaut Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Conneaut Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Conneaut Lake average
How we know this about Conneaut Lake
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 Conneaut Lake’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 Conneaut Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Conneaut Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Conneaut Lake 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 Conneaut Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Conneaut Lake typically arrives around Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 21, so the watching starts about Oct 5 — about 198 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Conneaut Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Conneaut Lake sees about 198 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 21, about 163 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Conneaut Lake?
The federal record around Conneaut Lake is a meaningful one — 316 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (141), the nearest Brownfields 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 Conneaut Lake?
From about Oct 5 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Conneaut Lake's scale — its 6a band and its 198-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Conneaut Lake'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 Conneaut Lake’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Conneaut Lake's own scale — its own ~198-day season between 28°F freezes, the 240 acres it covers and 316 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Conneaut Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Conneaut Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Nov 4 and the ~198-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 316 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Conneaut Lake, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Conneaut Lake's boundary and the 240 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~198-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Conneaut Lake's own centroid, the Erie Drift PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Conneaut Lakelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Conneaut Lake's 240 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Crawford County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Crawford 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 Crawford County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Conneaut Lake's 240 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Conneaut Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 240 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Conneaut Lake-wide figureread your own land →
More in Pennsylvania
Wider growing context
What grows across PennsylvaniaConneaut Lake sits outside our named growing regions, so Pennsylvania as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides