Sagadahoc County, in Maine, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Sagadahoc County lies within Casco Bay / Greater Portland and the Midcoast Maine — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Sagadahoc County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Sagadahoc County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Sagadahoc County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Sagadahoc County — the short answer
Sagadahoc County, Maine: USDA zone 5b, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 163K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 163K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Sagadahoc County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sagadahoc County's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Sagadahoc County
Across a year, Sagadahoc County accumulates about 1,934 growing degree days above 50°F, about 176 more than the middle Maine county — ahead of 11 of Maine’s 16 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Sagadahoc County
Across Sagadahoc County, the ground is predominantly Spodosols, where Lyman, Abram, and Buxton are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally somewhat excessively drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.2–5.5, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Spodosols
Drainage
Somewhat excessively drained
Prime farmland
5%
Hydric soils
18%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Sagadahoc County
The USDA soil survey maps 35% of Sagadahoc County as somewhat excessively drained — but another 47% drains differently: 15% moderately well drained, 9% poorly drained.
Lyman is the most extensive named soil at 22% of mapped acres, then Abram (12%) and Buxton (8%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Sagadahoc County
Each reading below is measured for Sagadahoc County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Sagadahoc County are somewhat excessively drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Sagadahoc County runs about pH 4.2–5.5, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 18% of Sagadahoc County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredSagadahoc County runs about 186 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
The kind of country Sagadahoc County is in
Sagadahoc County sits in the Acadian Plains and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Sagadahoc County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Sagadahoc County's own USDA zone 5b and its own 186-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Maine profile.
Is it too late to plant in Sagadahoc County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Sagadahoc County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Sagadahoc County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 51 miles off. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
- monarch butterfly13 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Sagadahoc County
USGS estimates 457 lb of Glyphosate on Sagadahoc County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (329 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (263 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Sagadahoc County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Sagadahoc County — 184 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Sagadahoc County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Sagadahoc County
Closest first, across Sagadahoc County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MORSE HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 1900 ft
- THE KENNEBEC COMPANYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- WEST BATH DISTRICT COURTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BISSON MOVING & STORAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- J J NISSEN BAKING COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- WEST FARMINGTON SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- PUFFIN STOP BATHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- JOHN G MORSE & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- WALGREENS DRUG STORE 10077Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- BATH IRON WORKSBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- U.S. NAVY SUPERVISOR OF SHIPBUILDINGBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- SMARTS BODY SHOP INCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sagadahoc County'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 Sagadahoc County.
Total Sites
184
across Sagadahoc County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Sagadahoc County
Severity Distribution
across Sagadahoc County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sagadahoc County, two things run higher than the national average across Sagadahoc County — Mining (19 sites) and Superfund (4 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Sagadahoc County
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 Sagadahoc County average
Your land is one point inside Sagadahoc County
Everything above resolves to Sagadahoc County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 163K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Sagadahoc County Average
Sagadahoc County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Sagadahoc County
- ●One soil character for all of Sagadahoc County
- ●Frost dates read at Sagadahoc County's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sagadahoc County's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Sagadahoc County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sagadahoc County, Maine — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sagadahoc County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sagadahoc County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sagadahoc County average
How we know this about Sagadahoc County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Sagadahoc County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Sagadahoc County
When does frost risk typically end in Sagadahoc County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sagadahoc County typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
How long is the growing season in Sagadahoc County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sagadahoc County sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 9, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sagadahoc County?
The federal record around Sagadahoc County is a meaningful one — 184 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (104), 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.
Everything above is measured at Sagadahoc County's scale — its 5b band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sagadahoc County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Maine's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Sagadahoc County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Sagadahoc County's own scale — its own ~186-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 184 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sagadahoc County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Sagadahoc County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Sagadahoc CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 184 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Sagadahoc County's boundary and the 162,546 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Sagadahoc County sitting wholly inside the Acadian Plains and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Sagadahoc County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Sagadahoc County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Maine grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Maine
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Sagadahoc County — the ~186 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sagadahoc County's 162,546 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 184 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Sagadahoc Countyread your own land →