Patton, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Patton, 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 Patton 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 Patton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Patton — the short answer
Patton, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 566 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 566 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 Patton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Patton's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Patton
Each reading below is measured for Patton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPatton runs about 175 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
MeasuredPatton 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 Patton is in
Patton sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Patton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cambria County.
What Grows in Patton
Every plant below cleared Patton's own zone 6a and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Patton?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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 Patton
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Patton, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Patton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Patton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BOWMANS DEPT STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- FIX IT SHOP AUTO CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- PATTON BORO STPUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- DON WESTRICK FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- SGL 108Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- LACUES SUNOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- PATTON FIRE CO TRUCK HALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- SHEETZ 052 PATTON PAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SHEETZ NO 52Brownfields · 1200 ft
- SHEETZ 52Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- GALLAGHER CASE ARTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- LACUE'S CHEVROLET BUICK OLDS PONTIACBrownfields · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Patton'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 Patton.
Total Sites
168
within ~10 miles of Patton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Patton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Patton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Patton, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Patton. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Patton
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 Patton average
Your land is one point inside Patton
Everything above resolves to Patton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 566 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 Patton Average
Patton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Patton
- ●One soil character for all of Patton
- ●Frost dates read at Patton's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Patton's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Patton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Patton, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Patton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Patton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Patton average
How we know this about Patton
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 Patton’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 Patton
When does frost risk typically end in Patton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Patton typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Patton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Patton typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Patton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Patton sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Oct 7, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Patton?
The federal record around Patton shows 168 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (100), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Patton?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Patton's scale — its 6a band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Patton'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 Patton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Patton's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 566 acres it covers and 168 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Patton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Patton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 21 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 168 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Patton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Patton's boundary and the 566 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Patton's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Pattonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Patton's 566 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cambria County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cambria 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 Cambria County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Patton's 566 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Patton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 566 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 Patton-wide figureread your own land →