Jewell Ridge, Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Jewell Ridge, 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 Jewell Ridge 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 Jewell Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Jewell Ridge — the short answer
Jewell Ridge, Virginia: USDA zone 6b, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 265 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 265 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 Jewell Ridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jewell Ridge's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Jewell Ridge
Each reading below is measured for Jewell Ridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredJewell Ridge 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
MeasuredJewell Ridge 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 Jewell Ridge is in
Jewell Ridge sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Jewell Ridge's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Tazewell County is mostly Ridge and Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Jewell Ridge
Every plant below cleared Jewell Ridge's own zone 6b and its 195-day season. Each card opens that plant's Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Jewell Ridge?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Jewell Ridge
Survey cells within 31 miles of Jewell Ridge checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 44 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Jewell Ridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Jewell Ridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EMERGENCY GENERATOR TANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- JEWEL RIDGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Sea B Old Central Shop/Jewell Ridge Coal #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MOUNTAIN TOP TRADING POSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Seaboard No 2 MineUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Jewell #12 Prep PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- JEWELL VALLEY SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- BUCYRUS VIRGINIA INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- DOUBLE R SUPERMARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- Buddys Gas N GoUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- Whites GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- RICHLANDS, TOWN OFPFAS · 5.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jewell Ridge'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 Jewell Ridge.
Total Sites
179
within ~10 miles of Jewell Ridge
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Jewell Ridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Jewell Ridge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jewell Ridge, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 121 sites within ~10 miles of Jewell Ridge. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Jewell Ridge
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 Jewell Ridge average
Your land is one point inside Jewell Ridge
Everything above resolves to Jewell Ridge as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 265 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 Jewell Ridge Average
Jewell Ridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Jewell Ridge
- ●One soil character for all of Jewell Ridge
- ●Frost dates read at Jewell Ridge's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jewell Ridge's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Jewell Ridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jewell Ridge, Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jewell Ridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jewell Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jewell Ridge average
How we know this about Jewell Ridge
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 Jewell Ridge’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 Jewell Ridge
When does frost risk typically end in Jewell Ridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jewell Ridge typically lands around Apr 14, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Jewell Ridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Jewell Ridge typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 195 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Jewell Ridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jewell Ridge sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 12, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Jewell Ridge?
The federal record around Jewell Ridge shows 179 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (121), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Jewell Ridge?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Jewell Ridge's scale — its 6b band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jewell Ridge'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 Jewell Ridge’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Jewell Ridge's own scale — its own ~195-day season between 28°F freezes, the 265 acres it covers and 179 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jewell Ridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Jewell Ridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 14 and Oct 26 and the ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 179 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Jewell Ridge, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Jewell Ridge's boundary and the 265 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Jewell Ridge sits in the Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Jewell Ridge checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Jewell Ridge's 265 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tazewell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tazewell County
- The growing challenges every Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Virginia
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Tazewell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jewell Ridge's 265 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Jewell Ridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 265 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Jewell Ridge-wide figureread your own land →
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