Bowden, West Virginia, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Bowden, 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 Bowden 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 Bowden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bowden — the short answer
Bowden, West Virginia: USDA zone 6a, about 168 days between hard freezes, across 76 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~168
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 76 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 Bowden's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bowden's 168-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bowden
Each reading below is measured for Bowden itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBowden runs about 168 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
MeasuredBowden 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 Bowden is in
Bowden sits in the Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bowden's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Randolph County is mostly Ridge and Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Bowden
Every plant below cleared Bowden's own zone 6a and its 168-day season. Each card opens that plant's West Virginia profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bowden?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Bowden
Spotted lanternfly documented 29 miles from Bowden, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Bowden
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bowden. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ran-0129Nitrate · 1700 ft
- FORMER STRAIGHT'S SERV STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- MIDLAND PSDPFAS · 4.5 mi
- ELKINS CITY OFPFAS · 4.5 mi
- DEMOTTO HONDA SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- DALE'S PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- BRUCE LAMBERT 226-061Underground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- WESTVACO STORAGE SHEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- ELKINS CITY GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- CUNNINGHAM COLLISIONBrownfields · 6.9 mi
- GLADY POST OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
- GLADY STORAGE WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bowden'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 Bowden.
Total Sites
189
within ~10 miles of Bowden
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bowden
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bowden
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Bowden
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 Bowden average
Your land is one point inside Bowden
Everything above resolves to Bowden as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 76 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 Bowden Average
Bowden Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Bowden
- ●One soil character for all of Bowden
- ●Frost dates read at Bowden's scale: May 1 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bowden's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bowden
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bowden, West Virginia — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bowden averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bowden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bowden average
How we know this about Bowden
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 Bowden’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 Bowden
When does frost risk typically end in Bowden?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bowden typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Bowden?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bowden typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 168 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bowden?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bowden sees about 168 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Oct 2, about 133 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bowden?
The federal record around Bowden is a meaningful one — 189 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (114), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Bowden?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bowden's scale — its 6a band and its 168-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bowden'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 Bowden’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Bowden's own scale — its own ~168-day season between 28°F freezes, the 76 acres it covers and 189 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bowden's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bowden's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 16 and the ~168-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 189 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bowden, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bowden's boundary and the 76 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~168-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bowden sits in the Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Bowdenlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bowden's 76 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Randolph County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Randolph County
- The growing challenges every West Virginia grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom West Virginia
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Randolph County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bowden's 76 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bowden you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 76 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Bowden-wide figureread your own land →