Nicholson, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Nicholson, 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 Nicholson 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 Nicholson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nicholson — the short answer
Nicholson, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 741 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- 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 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 741 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 Nicholson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nicholson's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nicholson
Each reading below is measured for Nicholson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNicholson runs about 189 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
MeasuredNicholson 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 Nicholson is in
Nicholson sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Nicholson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wyoming County.
What Grows in Nicholson
Every plant below cleared Nicholson's own zone 6a and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nicholson?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 24 — 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 Nicholson
Spotted lanternfly documented 1 miles from Nicholson, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Nicholson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nicholson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WS CROCK & SONS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- WY 107Nitrate · 2100 ft
- AEPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- W A SHERWOOD CHEVBrownfields · 2300 ft
- WALTER SHERWOOD CHEVROLETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- HINKLIES SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- WY 11Nitrate · 2500 ft
- PUMP N PANTRY 005Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PA0216 NICHOLSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- LENOX TWP MUNI BLDGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- WY 196Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- WY 203Nitrate · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nicholson'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 Nicholson.
Total Sites
235
within ~10 miles of Nicholson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nicholson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nicholson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nicholson, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 118 sites within ~10 miles of Nicholson. 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 Nicholson
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 Nicholson average
Your land is one point inside Nicholson
Everything above resolves to Nicholson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 741 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 Nicholson Average
Nicholson Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Nicholson
- ●One soil character for all of Nicholson
- ●Frost dates read at Nicholson's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nicholson's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nicholson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nicholson, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nicholson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nicholson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nicholson average
How we know this about Nicholson
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 Nicholson’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 Nicholson
When does frost risk typically end in Nicholson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nicholson 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 Nicholson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nicholson typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nicholson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nicholson sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 10, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nicholson?
The federal record around Nicholson is a meaningful one — 235 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (118), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Nicholson?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Nicholson's scale — its 6a band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nicholson'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 Nicholson’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Nicholson's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 741 acres it covers and 235 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nicholson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Nicholson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 24 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 235 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nicholson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nicholson's boundary and the 741 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Nicholson's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Nicholsonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nicholson's 741 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wyoming County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wyoming 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 Wyoming County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nicholson's 741 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nicholson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 741 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Nicholson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Pennsylvania
Wider growing context
What grows across PennsylvaniaNicholson sits outside our named growing regions, so Pennsylvania as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides