Brewer, Maine, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Brewer, 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 Brewer 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 Brewer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Brewer — the short answer
Brewer, Maine: USDA zone 5a, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 10K 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 5a is Brewer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Brewer's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Brewer
Each reading below is measured for Brewer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBrewer runs about 183 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
MeasuredBrewer sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Brewer is in
Brewer sits in the Acadian Plains and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Brewer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Penobscot County.
What Grows in Brewer
Every plant below cleared Brewer's own zone 5a and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maine profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Brewer?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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 Brewer
Spotted lanternfly documented 6 miles from Brewer, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Brewer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Brewer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DOWNEAST AUTO BODYBrownfields · 2100 ft
- MR T'S GAS & GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- HOLLAND ENTERPRISES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- DOWNEAST TOYOTA & BMWUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- LEADBETTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- BREWER FRESHIESBrownfields · 2600 ft
- DOWN EAST TOYOTABrownfields · 0.5 mi
- BREWER CAR WASH INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- B F I OF ME INCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTSBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- WILBUR, PAULUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #5076Brownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Brewer'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 Brewer.
Total Sites
655
within ~10 miles of Brewer
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Brewer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Brewer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Brewer, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Brewer. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Brewer
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 Brewer average
Your land is one point inside Brewer
Everything above resolves to Brewer as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 10K 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 city 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 Brewer Average
Brewer Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Brewer
- ●One soil character for all of Brewer
- ●Frost dates read at Brewer's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Brewer's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Brewer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Brewer, Maine — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Brewer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Brewer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Brewer average
How we know this about Brewer
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Brewer’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Brewer
When does frost risk typically end in Brewer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Brewer typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Brewer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Brewer typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Brewer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Brewer sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 7, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Brewer?
The federal record around Brewer is a meaningful one — 655 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (368), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Brewer?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Brewer's scale — its 5a band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Brewer'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 Brewer’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Brewer's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 9,752 acres it covers and 655 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Brewer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Brewer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 21 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 655 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Brewer, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Brewer's boundary and the 9,752 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Brewer's own centroid, the Acadian Plains and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Brewerlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Brewer's 9,752 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Penobscot County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Penobscot 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 Penobscot County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Brewer's 9,752 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Brewer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,752 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Brewer-wide figureread your own land →
More in Maine
Growing region