Bath County, in Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Bath County lies within Appalachia — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Bath County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Bath County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Bath County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bath County — the short answer
Bath County, Virginia: USDA zone 6b, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 339K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~190
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 339K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Bath County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bath County's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Bath County
Across a year, Bath County accumulates about 2,314 growing degree days above 50°F, about 1,420 fewer than the middle Virginia county — ahead of 2 of Virginia’s 133 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Bath County
Across Bath County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Weikert, Berks, and Oriskany are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a channery silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.5–5.2, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
5%
Hydric soils
1%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Bath County
The USDA soil survey maps 79% of Bath County as well drained — but another 19% drains differently: 9% somewhat excessively drained, 6% excessively drained.
Weikert is the most extensive named soil at 17% of mapped acres, then Berks (15%) and Oriskany (13%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Bath County
Each reading below is measured for Bath County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Bath County are well drained, in hydrologic group A — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Bath County runs about pH 4.5–5.2, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredBath County runs about 190 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
MeasuredBath County 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 Bath County is in
Bath County sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Bath County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Bath County's own USDA zone 6b and its own 190-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile.
Is it too late to plant in Bath County?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — 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 Bath County
Spotted lanternfly documented 24 miles from Bath County, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
- monarch butterfly14 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Bath County
USGS estimates 2,016 lb of Glyphosate on Bath County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (1,279 lb) and Metolachlor-s (841 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Bath County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Bath County — 68 documented sites across 3 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Bath County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Bath County
Closest first, across Bath County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Oak Ridge StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- VDOT - Warm Springs Area HeadquartersUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- F. CLAYTON PLECKER & SONS, INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- BATH COUNTY COURTHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- A & DUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- COUNTY SEAT TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- USDA-FS-GWNF-WSRD - ASHWOOD COMPLEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- FORMER LAKE MINI-MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Warm Springs MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- The VarsityUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- BATH COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- SPORTSMAN INN RESTAURANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bath County'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 Bath County.
Total Sites
68
across Bath County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Severity Distribution
across Bath County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bath County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 59 sites across Bath County. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Bath County
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 Bath County average
Your land is one point inside Bath County
Everything above resolves to Bath County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 339K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Bath County Average
Bath County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Bath County
- ●One soil character for all of Bath County
- ●Frost dates read at Bath County's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bath County's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Bath County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bath County, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bath County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bath County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bath County average
How we know this about Bath County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Bath County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Bath County
When does frost risk typically end in Bath County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bath County typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
How long is the growing season in Bath County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bath County sees about 190 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 11, about 155 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bath County?
The federal record around Bath County shows 68 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (59), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 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.
Everything above is measured at Bath County's scale — its 6b band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bath County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Virginia's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Bath County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Bath County's own scale — its own ~190-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 68 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bath County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bath County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Bath CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 68 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Bath County's boundary and the 338,689 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bath County sitting wholly inside the Ridge and ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Bath County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Bath County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Virginia
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Bath County — the ~190 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bath County's 338,689 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 68 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Bath Countyread your own land →