Little York, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, blueberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Little York, 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 Little York 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 Little York — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Little York — the short answer
Little York, Illinois: USDA zone 5b, about 205 days between hard freezes, across 143 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 6
- 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
- ~205
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 143 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 5b is Little York's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Little York's 205-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Little York
Each reading below is measured for Little York itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLittle York runs about 205 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLittle York sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Little York is in
Little York sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Little York's own centroid rather than borrowed from Warren County.
What Grows in Little York
Every plant below cleared Little York's own zone 5b and its 205-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Little York?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 6 (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. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Little York
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Little York. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Bellinger Lloyd AUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Stock Land Fs IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Perrins ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Mcmahon TruckingUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- GALESBURGPFAS · 0.9 mi
- CHRISTOPHER P FREDRICKSON AND SONS, INC.CAFO · 1.9 mi
- MICHAEL JOHNSON FARM #2CAFO · 2.5 mi
- CAMPBELL SWINE, LLCCAFO · 2.9 mi
- 235 Ave and 45 StNitrate · 3.7 mi
- FALL CREEK FARM/HEN CO HOGSCAFO · 3.7 mi
- Gold Star FS, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- United ElementaryUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Little York'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 Little York.
Total Sites
134
within ~10 miles of Little York
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Little York
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Little York
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Little York, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Little York — CAFO (10 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Little York
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 Little York average
Your land is one point inside Little York
Everything above resolves to Little York as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 143 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 Little York Average
Little York Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Little York
- ●One soil character for all of Little York
- ●Frost dates read at Little York's scale: Apr 6 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Little York's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Little York
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Little York, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Little York averages can't show:
We read public map data around Little York — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Little York average
How we know this about Little York
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 Little York’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 Little York
When does frost risk typically end in Little York?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Little York typically lands around Apr 6, 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 Apr 27.
When is the first frost in Little York?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Little York 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 205 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Little York?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Little York sees about 205 frost-free days — roughly Apr 6 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 27 to Oct 14, about 170 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Little York?
The federal record around Little York is a meaningful one — 134 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (78), 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 Little York?
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 Little York's scale — its 5b band and its 205-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Little York'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 Little York’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Little York's own scale — its own ~205-day season between 28°F freezes, the 143 acres it covers and 134 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Little York's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Little York's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 6 and Oct 28 and the ~205-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 134 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Little York, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Little York's boundary and the 143 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~205-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Little York's own centroid, the Interior River Valleys and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Little York's 143 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Warren County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Warren County
- The growing challenges every Illinois grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Illinois
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Warren County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Little York's 143 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Little York you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 143 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 Little York-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisLittle York sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides