South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in South Bethlehem, 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 South Bethlehem 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 South Bethlehem — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Bethlehem — the short answer
South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6a, about 185 days between hard freezes, across 97 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~185
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 97 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 South Bethlehem's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Bethlehem's 185-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Bethlehem
Each reading below is measured for South Bethlehem itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouth Bethlehem runs about 185 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
MeasuredSouth Bethlehem 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 South Bethlehem is in
South Bethlehem sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at South Bethlehem's own centroid rather than borrowed from Armstrong County.
What Grows in South Bethlehem
Every plant below cleared South Bethlehem's own zone 6a and its 185-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Bethlehem?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around South Bethlehem
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from South Bethlehem, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Bethlehem
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Bethlehem. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EUGENE HEASLEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- JOHN & RICHS SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- ROUTE 28 GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- JU DONS SVC STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- NEW BETHLEHEM WORK LOCATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- PA GAME COMM SOUTHWEST GAME FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- SHORT STREET PUMP STAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SUNOCO 0363 2791Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- MCCAULEYS SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ATLANTIC SERVICE STATIONBrownfields · 1600 ft
- RED BANK MILLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- STAHLMAN TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Bethlehem'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 South Bethlehem.
Total Sites
215
within ~10 miles of South Bethlehem
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Bethlehem
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Bethlehem
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Bethlehem, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 120 sites within ~10 miles of South Bethlehem. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 South Bethlehem
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 South Bethlehem average
Your land is one point inside South Bethlehem
Everything above resolves to South Bethlehem as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 97 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 South Bethlehem Average
South Bethlehem Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across South Bethlehem
- ●One soil character for all of South Bethlehem
- ●Frost dates read at South Bethlehem's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Bethlehem's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Bethlehem
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Bethlehem, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Bethlehem averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Bethlehem — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Bethlehem average
How we know this about South Bethlehem
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 South Bethlehem’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 South Bethlehem
When does frost risk typically end in South Bethlehem?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Bethlehem typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in South Bethlehem?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Bethlehem typically arrives around Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 14, so the watching starts about Sep 28 — about 185 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Bethlehem?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Bethlehem sees about 185 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 14, about 150 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Bethlehem?
The federal record around South Bethlehem is a meaningful one — 215 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (120), 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 South Bethlehem?
From about Sep 28 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Bethlehem's scale — its 6a band and its 185-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Bethlehem'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 South Bethlehem’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at South Bethlehem's own scale — its own ~185-day season between 28°F freezes, the 97 acres it covers and 215 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Bethlehem's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- South Bethlehem's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 28 and the ~185-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 215 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Bethlehem, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Bethlehem's boundary and the 97 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~185-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Bethlehem's own centroid, the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of South Bethlehemlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Bethlehem's 97 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Armstrong County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Armstrong 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 Armstrong County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Bethlehem's 97 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Bethlehem you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 97 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 South Bethlehem-wide figureread your own land →
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