Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Lincoln University, 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 Lincoln University 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 Lincoln University — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lincoln University — the short answer
Lincoln University, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 7a, about 215 days between hard freezes, across 183 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 3
- 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
- ~215
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 183 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 7a is Lincoln University's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lincoln University's 215-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lincoln University
Each reading below is measured for Lincoln University itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLincoln University runs about 215 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLincoln University sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Lincoln University is in
Lincoln University sits in the Northern Piedmont — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Lincoln University's own centroid rather than borrowed from Chester County.
What Grows in Lincoln University
Every plant below cleared Lincoln University's own zone 7a and its 215-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lincoln University?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 3 (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. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Documented around Lincoln University
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Lincoln University, first recorded 2018. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Lincoln University
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lincoln University. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CH 525Nitrate · 700 ft
- LINCOLN UNIVUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- LINCOLN UNIV/LOWER OXFORDBrownfields · 1400 ft
- BECKY CHRISTOPHERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CH 1996Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- SHERROCKEE MUSHROOM FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CH 1737Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- CH 1720Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- CH 5430Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- CH 5476Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- CH 5442Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- SCOTTSBrownfields · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lincoln University'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 Lincoln University.
Total Sites
798
within ~10 miles of Lincoln University
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lincoln University
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lincoln University
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lincoln University, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lincoln University — CAFO (29 sites) and Nitrate (418 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 Lincoln University
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 Lincoln University average
Your land is one point inside Lincoln University
Everything above resolves to Lincoln University as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 183 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 Lincoln University Average
Lincoln University Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Lincoln University
- ●One soil character for all of Lincoln University
- ●Frost dates read at Lincoln University's scale: Apr 3 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lincoln University's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lincoln University
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lincoln University, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lincoln University averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lincoln University — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lincoln University average
How we know this about Lincoln University
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 Lincoln University’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 Lincoln University
When does frost risk typically end in Lincoln University?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lincoln University typically lands around Apr 3, 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 Apr 24.
When is the first frost in Lincoln University?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lincoln University 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 215 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lincoln University?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lincoln University sees about 215 frost-free days — roughly Apr 3 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 24 to Oct 21, about 180 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lincoln University?
The federal record around Lincoln University is a meaningful one — 798 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (418), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Lincoln University?
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 Lincoln University's scale — its 7a band and its 215-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lincoln University'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 Lincoln University’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Lincoln University's own scale — its own ~215-day season between 28°F freezes, the 183 acres it covers and 798 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lincoln University's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lincoln University's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 3 and Nov 4 and the ~215-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 798 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lincoln University, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lincoln University's boundary and the 183 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~215-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lincoln University's own centroid, the Northern PiedmontUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Lincoln Universitylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lincoln University's 183 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Chester County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Chester 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 Chester County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lincoln University's 183 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lincoln University you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 183 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Lincoln University-wide figureread your own land →