South Greensburg, 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.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in South Greensburg, 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 Greensburg 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 Greensburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Greensburg — the short answer
South Greensburg, Pennsylvania: USDA zone 6b, about 194 days between hard freezes, across 452 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- 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
- ~194
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 452 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 South Greensburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Greensburg's 194-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Greensburg
Each reading below is measured for South Greensburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouth Greensburg runs about 194 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 Greensburg 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 South Greensburg is in
South Greensburg sits in the Western Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at South Greensburg's own centroid rather than borrowed from Westmoreland County.
What Grows in South Greensburg
Every plant below cleared South Greensburg's own zone 6b and its 194-day season. Each card opens that plant's Pennsylvania profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Greensburg?
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 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around South Greensburg
Spotted lanternfly documented 1 miles from South Greensburg, first recorded 2019. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Greensburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Greensburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CIARIMBOLI SUNOCO SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- YELLOW FREIGHTUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- ABF FREIGHT SYS INCBrownfields · 550 ft
- KLEINERS SVC CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- SOUTH GREENSBURG PRINTINGBrownfields · 750 ft
- RON PHILLABAUMS AUTO BODYBrownfields · 850 ft
- CLINES AUTO BODYBrownfields · 950 ft
- PRECISION METAL CRAFTERS LTDBrownfields · 1100 ft
- PPG IND GREENSBURG DIVBrownfields · 1100 ft
- BENCO BLDG PRODUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- SHEETZ #719Brownfields · 1600 ft
- ASEA BROWN BOVERIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Greensburg'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 Greensburg.
Total Sites
1,040
within ~10 miles of South Greensburg
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Greensburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Greensburg
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Greensburg, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 72 sites within ~10 miles of South Greensburg. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in South Greensburg
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 Greensburg average
Your land is one point inside South Greensburg
Everything above resolves to South Greensburg as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 452 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 Greensburg Average
South Greensburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across South Greensburg
- ●One soil character for all of South Greensburg
- ●Frost dates read at South Greensburg's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Greensburg's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Greensburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Greensburg, Pennsylvania — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Greensburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Greensburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Greensburg average
How we know this about South Greensburg
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 Greensburg’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 Greensburg
When does frost risk typically end in South Greensburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Greensburg typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in South Greensburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Greensburg 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 194 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Greensburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Greensburg sees about 194 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 14, about 159 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Greensburg?
The federal record around South Greensburg is a meaningful one — 1,040 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (482), 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 Greensburg?
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 Greensburg's scale — its 6b band and its 194-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Greensburg'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 Greensburg’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at South Greensburg's own scale — its own ~194-day season between 28°F freezes, the 452 acres it covers and 1,040 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Greensburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- South Greensburg's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 28 and the ~194-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,040 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Greensburg, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Greensburg's boundary and the 452 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~194-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Greensburg's own centroid, the Western Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of South Greensburglydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Greensburg's 452 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Westmoreland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Westmoreland 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 Westmoreland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Greensburg's 452 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Greensburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 452 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 Greensburg-wide figureread your own land →
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