shp123, One of the things I have learned here that was completely new to me is that the USDA zones are only about winter severity and do not at all reflect the total climate. As it turns out, in addition to your lovely 12 hours of sun you have much warmer weather on average than we do around the Puget Sound in Washington. This is also true for many in the midwest zone 6.

There is map of heat zones built by the American Horticultural Society that really points out these contrasts. There is a nifty on line version here that shows coastal NJ with 14-30 days above 86 degrees in the average year, while we only experience between 1 and 7. So even though our growing seasons are similar your tomatoes and beans will probably outperform mine most years. In our construction business we hear so many excuses we number them so I'm giving this one number 19.