Alfred, Maine, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, 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 Alfred, 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 Alfred 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 Alfred — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Alfred — the short answer
Alfred, Maine: USDA zone 5b, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Alfred's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Alfred's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Alfred
Each reading below is measured for Alfred itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAlfred runs about 169 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
MeasuredAlfred 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 Alfred is in
Alfred sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Alfred's own centroid rather than borrowed from York County.
What Grows in Alfred
Every plant below cleared Alfred's own zone 5b and its 169-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maine profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Alfred?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Alfred
Survey cells within 31 miles of Alfred checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 32 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Alfred
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Alfred. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHEM-CLEAN FURNITURE RESTORATIONBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- ALFRED GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- TOWN OF ALFRED TRANSFER STATIONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- CLARK BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- YORK COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT HOUSEBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- GERRISH, ROLAND EUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- YW 803Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- F H SCOTT INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- YORK COUNTY JAILBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- MDOT MAINTENANCE FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- ST POLICE GAS PUMP ALFRED UTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- MAINE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 1.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Alfred'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 Alfred.
Total Sites
276
within ~10 miles of Alfred
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Alfred
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Alfred
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 Alfred
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 Alfred average
Your land is one point inside Alfred
Everything above resolves to Alfred as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Alfred Average
Alfred Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Alfred
- ●One soil character for all of Alfred
- ●Frost dates read at Alfred's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Alfred's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Alfred
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Alfred, Maine — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Alfred averages can't show:
We read public map data around Alfred — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alfred average
How we know this about Alfred
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 Alfred’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 Alfred
When does frost risk typically end in Alfred?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Alfred typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Alfred?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Alfred typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Alfred?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Alfred sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 30, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Alfred?
The federal record around Alfred is a meaningful one — 276 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (135), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 Alfred?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Alfred's scale — its 5b band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Alfred'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 Alfred’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Alfred's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,517 acres it covers and 276 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Alfred's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Alfred's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 14 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 276 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Alfred, the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Alfred's boundary and the 2,517 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Alfred's own centroid, the Northeastern Coastal ZoneUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Alfred 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 Alfred's 2,517 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom York County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom York County
- The growing challenges every Maine grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Maine
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom York County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Alfred's 2,517 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Alfred you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,517 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 Alfred-wide figureread your own land →
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