Markleysburg, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Markleysburg, 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 Markleysburg 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 Markleysburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Markleysburg — the short answer
Markleysburg, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 190 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- 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
- ~190
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 190 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 Markleysburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Markleysburg's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Markleysburg
Each reading below is measured for Markleysburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMarkleysburg runs about 190 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
MeasuredMarkleysburg 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 Markleysburg is in
Markleysburg sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Markleysburg's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fayette County.
What Grows in Markleysburg
Every plant below cleared Markleysburg's own zone 6a and its 190-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Markleysburg?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Markleysburg
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Markleysburg, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Markleysburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Markleysburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORE NO 10732Brownfields · 450 ft
- WORLDCOM FORT HILL PLTUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- RINGER BULK PETROUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- YOUGH LAKE SPORT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- GA Aa 12Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- BATES RECYCLING LLCBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- DENNIS LUMBER & BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- J&J EMERGENCY VEHICLE SLSBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- HENRY CLAY TWP FAYETTE CNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- NEMACOLIN SHOOTING ACADEMYBrownfields · 3.3 mi
- GA Aa 16Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- GA Aa 15Nitrate · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Markleysburg'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 Markleysburg.
Total Sites
115
within ~10 miles of Markleysburg
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Markleysburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Markleysburg
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Markleysburg, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Markleysburg. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Markleysburg
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 Markleysburg average
Your land is one point inside Markleysburg
Everything above resolves to Markleysburg as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 190 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 Markleysburg Average
Markleysburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Markleysburg
- ●One soil character for all of Markleysburg
- ●Frost dates read at Markleysburg's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Markleysburg's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Markleysburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Markleysburg, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Markleysburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around Markleysburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Markleysburg average
How we know this about Markleysburg
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 Markleysburg’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 Markleysburg
When does frost risk typically end in Markleysburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Markleysburg typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Markleysburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Markleysburg 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 190 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Markleysburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Markleysburg sees about 190 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 12, about 155 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Markleysburg?
The federal record around Markleysburg shows 115 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (49), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Markleysburg?
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 Markleysburg's scale — its 6a band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Markleysburg'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 Markleysburg’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Markleysburg's own scale — its own ~190-day season between 28°F freezes, the 190 acres it covers and 115 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Markleysburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Markleysburg's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 26 and the ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 115 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Markleysburg, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Markleysburg's boundary and the 190 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Markleysburg's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Markleysburglydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Markleysburg's 190 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 Markleysburg's 190 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Markleysburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 190 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 Markleysburg-wide figureread your own land →
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