Moshannon, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Moshannon, 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 Moshannon 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 Moshannon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Moshannon — the short answer
Moshannon, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 172 days between hard freezes, across 214 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~172
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 214 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 Moshannon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moshannon's 172-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Your town runs its own season
Moshannon's own 30-year record measures about 172 days between 28°F killing freezes — 32 days shorter than Centre County's ~204. Both are measured records, not estimates.
That gap is the whole reason a county average can mislead here. Plant against Moshannon's ~172-day season rather than the county figure — and the sun, slope and cold-air drainage on your specific lot move it again.
NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020), 30-year daily minimum record. Both figures are measured records — this town’s own and its county’s. A town with no record of its own is absent here rather than estimated.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moshannon
Each reading below is measured for Moshannon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMoshannon runs about 172 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
MeasuredMoshannon 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 Moshannon is in
Moshannon sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Moshannon's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Centre County is mostly Ridge and Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Moshannon
Every plant below cleared Moshannon's own zone 6a and its 172-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moshannon?
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 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Moshannon
Spotted lanternfly documented 7 miles from Moshannon, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Moshannon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moshannon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JCT REFILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- ROBERT LIVERGOODBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- BOBS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- BRUCE W MEEKERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- CHAMBERS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- SNOW SHOE ELEMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- BRASS RAIL PIZZA PARLORUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- SNOW SHOE DIV HQUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- RIGG REBUILDERSBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- JIM & TERRYS RELIABLE AUTO REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- FEDEX FREIGHT INC SNOWSHOE FACBrownfields · 3.5 mi
- FEDEX FREIGHT SNOUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moshannon'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 Moshannon.
Total Sites
47
within ~10 miles of Moshannon
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Moshannon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moshannon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moshannon, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 33 sites within ~10 miles of Moshannon. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Moshannon
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 Moshannon average
Your land is one point inside Moshannon
Everything above resolves to Moshannon as a whole — and this is a town whose own 30-year record already runs a season its county’s does not. Your parcel sits at one point inside even that. 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 Moshannon Average
Moshannon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Moshannon
- ●One soil character for all of Moshannon
- ●Frost dates read at Moshannon's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moshannon's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moshannon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moshannon, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moshannon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moshannon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moshannon average
How we know this about Moshannon
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 Moshannon’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 Moshannon
When does frost risk typically end in Moshannon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moshannon typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Moshannon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moshannon typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 172 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moshannon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moshannon sees about 172 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Oct 2, about 137 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Moshannon?
The federal record around Moshannon is a meaningful one — 47 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (33), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Moshannon?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Moshannon's scale — its 6a band and its 172-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moshannon'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 Moshannon’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Moshannon's own scale — its own ~172-day season between 28°F freezes, the 214 acres it covers and 47 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moshannon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Moshannon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 16 and the ~172-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 47 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moshannon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moshannon's boundary and the 214 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~172-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Moshannon sits in the Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Moshannonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Moshannon's 214 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Centre County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Centre 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 Centre County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moshannon's 214 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moshannon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 214 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Moshannon-wide figureread your own land →
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