Earlston, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Earlston, 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 Earlston 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 Earlston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Earlston — the short answer
Earlston, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 691 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- 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 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 691 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 Earlston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Earlston's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Earlston
Each reading below is measured for Earlston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEarlston runs about 188 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
MeasuredEarlston 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 Earlston is in
Earlston sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Earlston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bedford County.
What Grows in Earlston
Every plant below cleared Earlston's own zone 6b and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Earlston?
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 23 — 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 Earlston
Spotted lanternfly documented 1 miles from Earlston, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Earlston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Earlston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WEST PROVIDENCE TWP BEDFORD CNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- EVERETT FOODLINERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- DONS AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- KITTATINNY TUNNELUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- JACK COLLEDGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- TUSSEY MTN RADIO RELAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- BLUE MTN TUNNELUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- GERALD W CLARK DRILLINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- VEND O MATICBrownfields · 2400 ft
- SHEETZ, INC (STORE #23)Brownfields · 2600 ft
- SHEETZ 23RUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- CLYDE CALHOUNS ATLANTICUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Earlston'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 Earlston.
Total Sites
262
within ~10 miles of Earlston
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Earlston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Earlston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Earlston, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Earlston — CAFO (4 sites) and Nitrate (78 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Earlston
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 Earlston average
Your land is one point inside Earlston
Everything above resolves to Earlston as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 691 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 Earlston Average
Earlston Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Earlston
- ●One soil character for all of Earlston
- ●Frost dates read at Earlston's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Earlston's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Earlston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Earlston, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Earlston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Earlston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Earlston average
How we know this about Earlston
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 Earlston’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 Earlston
When does frost risk typically end in Earlston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Earlston 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 Earlston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Earlston typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Earlston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Earlston sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 9, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Earlston?
The federal record around Earlston is a meaningful one — 262 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (106), 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 Earlston?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Earlston's scale — its 6b band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Earlston'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 Earlston’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Earlston's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 691 acres it covers and 262 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Earlston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Earlston's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 23 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 262 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Earlston, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Earlston's boundary and the 691 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Earlston's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Earlstonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Earlston's 691 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bedford County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bedford 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 Bedford County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Earlston's 691 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Earlston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 691 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 Earlston-wide figureread your own land →
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