Shamokin, 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.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Shamokin, 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 Shamokin 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 Shamokin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Shamokin — the short answer
Shamokin, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 528 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 528 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 Shamokin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Shamokin's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Shamokin
Each reading below is measured for Shamokin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredShamokin runs about 195 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
MeasuredShamokin 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 Shamokin is in
Shamokin sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Shamokin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Northumberland County.
What Grows in Shamokin
Every plant below cleared Shamokin's own zone 6b and its 195-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Shamokin?
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 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Shamokin
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Shamokin, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Shamokin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Shamokin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FOLTZ SUNOCO SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- ECONOMY SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- LIQUID FUELS SHEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- CTL BLDR SUPPLY READY MIX PLTUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- SHAMOKIN AREA MID SCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- SHAMOKIN AREA MID SCH ANNEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- SHAMOKIN DIAL OFC GLC35129Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- TURKEY HILL 184Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- TURKEY HILL 205Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- NORTHUMBERLAND CO SERVICE STAT SUNOCOBrownfields · 1100 ft
- JIM SHINGARA SALES & SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MACELWEESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Shamokin'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 Shamokin.
Total Sites
364
within ~10 miles of Shamokin
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Shamokin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Shamokin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Shamokin, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Shamokin — CAFO (14 sites) and Nitrate (108 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Shamokin
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 Shamokin average
Your land is one point inside Shamokin
Everything above resolves to Shamokin as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 528 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 city 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 Shamokin Average
Shamokin Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Shamokin
- ●One soil character for all of Shamokin
- ●Frost dates read at Shamokin's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Shamokin's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Shamokin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Shamokin, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Shamokin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Shamokin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Shamokin average
How we know this about Shamokin
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Shamokin’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Shamokin
When does frost risk typically end in Shamokin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Shamokin typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Shamokin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Shamokin typically arrives around Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 13, so the watching starts about Sep 27 — about 195 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Shamokin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Shamokin sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 13, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Shamokin?
The federal record around Shamokin is a meaningful one — 364 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (179), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Shamokin?
From about Sep 27 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Shamokin's scale — its 6b band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Shamokin'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 Shamokin’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Shamokin's own scale — its own ~195-day season between 28°F freezes, the 528 acres it covers and 364 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Shamokin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Shamokin's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 27 and the ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 364 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Shamokin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Shamokin's boundary and the 528 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Shamokin's own centroid, the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Shamokinlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Shamokin's 528 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Northumberland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Northumberland 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 Northumberland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Shamokin's 528 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Shamokin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 528 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Shamokin-wide figureread your own land →
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