Sidman, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Sidman, 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 Sidman 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 Sidman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Sidman — the short answer
Sidman, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 636 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 636 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 Sidman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sidman's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sidman
Each reading below is measured for Sidman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSidman runs about 186 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
MeasuredSidman 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 Sidman is in
Sidman sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sidman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cambria County.
What Grows in Sidman
Every plant below cleared Sidman's own zone 6a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sidman?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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 Sidman
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Sidman, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Sidman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sidman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SHEETZ 113Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- SHEETZ STORE NO 113Brownfields · 2600 ft
- GREENS CORNER GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GARY SMAY AUTOBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- ARTS MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FOREST HILLS HIGH SCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- KORNER STOPPERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JELD WEN INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- WW FRY & SONS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BORCO MANUFACTURINGBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- CROYLE TWP CAMBRIA CNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- GB WHSE SIDMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sidman'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 Sidman.
Total Sites
522
within ~10 miles of Sidman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
20 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sidman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sidman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sidman, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 6 sites within ~10 miles of Sidman. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Sidman
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 Sidman average
Your land is one point inside Sidman
Everything above resolves to Sidman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 636 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 Sidman Average
Sidman Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Sidman
- ●One soil character for all of Sidman
- ●Frost dates read at Sidman's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sidman's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sidman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sidman, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sidman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sidman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sidman average
How we know this about Sidman
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 Sidman’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 Sidman
When does frost risk typically end in Sidman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sidman typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Sidman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sidman typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sidman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sidman sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 9, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sidman?
The federal record around Sidman is a meaningful one — 522 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (275), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Sidman?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sidman's scale — its 6a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sidman'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 Sidman’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Sidman's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 636 acres it covers and 522 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sidman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Sidman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 23 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 522 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sidman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sidman's boundary and the 636 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sidman's own centroid, the Central AppalachiansUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Sidmanlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sidman's 636 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 Sidman's 636 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sidman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 636 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Sidman-wide figureread your own land →