North Bend, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in North Bend, 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 North Bend 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 North Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
North Bend — the short answer
North Bend, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 182 days between hard freezes, across 380 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- 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 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~182
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 380 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 6b is North Bend's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Bend's 182-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Bend
Each reading below is measured for North Bend itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorth Bend runs about 182 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
MeasuredNorth Bend sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 North Bend is in
North Bend sits in the North Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at North Bend's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clinton County.
What Grows in North Bend
Every plant below cleared North Bend's own zone 6b and its 182-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Bend?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 26 — 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 North Bend
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from North Bend, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near North Bend
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Bend. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RENOVA WORK LOCATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- CN 118Nitrate · 1300 ft
- CN 477Nitrate · 1500 ft
- HYNER RUN STATE PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- HYNER RUN DIV HQUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- TAMARACK FIRE TOWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SERVICE GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- TRIPPS GAS & GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- RENOVO ELEM SCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CN 513Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- CN 47Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORP RENOVO COMP STABrownfields · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Bend'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 North Bend.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Bend
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Bend
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Bend, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of North Bend. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 North Bend
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 North Bend average
Your land is one point inside North Bend
Everything above resolves to North Bend as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 380 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 North Bend Average
North Bend Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across North Bend
- ●One soil character for all of North Bend
- ●Frost dates read at North Bend's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Bend's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Bend
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Bend, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Bend averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Bend — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Bend average
How we know this about North Bend
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 North Bend’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 North Bend
When does frost risk typically end in North Bend?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Bend 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 North Bend?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Bend 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 182 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Bend?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Bend sees about 182 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Oct 12, about 147 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Bend?
The federal record around North Bend shows 53 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (30), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 North Bend?
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 North Bend's scale — its 6b band and its 182-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Bend'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 North Bend’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at North Bend's own scale — its own ~182-day season between 28°F freezes, the 380 acres it covers and 53 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Bend's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- North Bend's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 26 and the ~182-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 53 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Bend, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Bend's boundary and the 380 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~182-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Bend's own centroid, the North Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of North Bendlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Bend's 380 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clinton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clinton 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 Clinton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Bend's 380 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Bend you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 380 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 North Bend-wide figureread your own land →
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