New Castle Northwest, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in New Castle Northwest, 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 New Castle Northwest 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 New Castle Northwest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
New Castle Northwest — the short answer
New Castle Northwest, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 192 days between hard freezes, across 557 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~192
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 557 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 New Castle Northwest's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against New Castle Northwest's 192-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in New Castle Northwest
Each reading below is measured for New Castle Northwest itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNew Castle Northwest runs about 192 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
MeasuredNew Castle Northwest 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 New Castle Northwest is in
New Castle Northwest sits in the Erie Drift Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at New Castle Northwest's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lawrence County.
What Grows in New Castle Northwest
Every plant below cleared New Castle Northwest's own zone 6a and its 192-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in New Castle Northwest?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — 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 New Castle Northwest
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from New Castle Northwest, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near New Castle Northwest
Closest first, within ~10 miles of New Castle Northwest. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GK MGMT 1313Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #5711Brownfields · 850 ft
- PA DOT ENG DIST 11 0Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- L & M OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FLYNNS TIRE SVC CTR NEW CASTLEBrownfields · 1200 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORE NO 4122Brownfields · 1600 ft
- FISH DRYCLEANERSBrownfields · 1700 ft
- COMMERCIAL PRINTINGBrownfields · 1800 ft
- BP OIL 07110Brownfields · 2000 ft
- PRESTON MOTORS INCBrownfields · 2400 ft
- BFS NEW CASTLE WILMINGTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WALGREENS #9586Brownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from New Castle Northwest'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 New Castle Northwest.
Total Sites
420
within ~10 miles of New Castle Northwest
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of New Castle Northwest
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of New Castle Northwest
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around New Castle Northwest, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 39 sites within ~10 miles of New Castle Northwest. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 New Castle Northwest
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 New Castle Northwest average
Your land is one point inside New Castle Northwest
Everything above resolves to New Castle Northwest as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 557 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 New Castle Northwest Average
New Castle Northwest Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across New Castle Northwest
- ●One soil character for all of New Castle Northwest
- ●Frost dates read at New Castle Northwest's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not New Castle Northwest's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in New Castle Northwest
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in New Castle Northwest, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that New Castle Northwest averages can't show:
We read public map data around New Castle Northwest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the New Castle Northwest average
How we know this about New Castle Northwest
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 New Castle Northwest’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 New Castle Northwest
When does frost risk typically end in New Castle Northwest?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in New Castle Northwest typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in New Castle Northwest?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in New Castle Northwest typically arrives around Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 16, so the watching starts about Sep 30 — about 192 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in New Castle Northwest?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, New Castle Northwest sees about 192 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 16, about 157 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in New Castle Northwest?
The federal record around New Castle Northwest is a meaningful one — 420 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (197), 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 New Castle Northwest?
From about Sep 30 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at New Castle Northwest's scale — its 6a band and its 192-day season. Your yard writes its own version of New Castle Northwest'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 New Castle Northwest’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at New Castle Northwest's own scale — its own ~192-day season between 28°F freezes, the 557 acres it covers and 420 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- New Castle Northwest's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- New Castle Northwest's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 30 and the ~192-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 420 documented contamination sites on the federal record near New Castle Northwest, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- New Castle Northwest's boundary and the 557 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~192-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at New Castle Northwest's own centroid, the Erie Drift PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of New Castle Northwestlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so New Castle Northwest's 557 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lawrence County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lawrence 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 Lawrence County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among New Castle Northwest's 557 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of New Castle Northwest you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 557 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 New Castle Northwest-wide figureread your own land →
More in Pennsylvania
Wider growing context
What grows across PennsylvaniaNew Castle Northwest sits outside our named growing regions, so Pennsylvania as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides