Fairfield, Maine, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Fairfield, 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 Fairfield 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 Fairfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fairfield — the short answer
Fairfield, Maine: USDA zone 5b, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- 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 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Fairfield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fairfield's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fairfield
Each reading below is measured for Fairfield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFairfield runs about 181 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
MeasuredFairfield 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 Fairfield is in
Fairfield sits in the Acadian Plains and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Fairfield's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Somerset County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Fairfield
Every plant below cleared Fairfield's own zone 5b and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maine profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fairfield?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 19 — 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 Fairfield
Spotted lanternfly documented 31 miles from Fairfield, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Fairfield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fairfield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CENTRAL OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- FAIRFIELD PUBLIC WORKS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- FAIRFIELD PUBLIC WORKS DEPTBrownfields · 1400 ft
- GENES MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- FAIRPOINT COMMUNICATIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- KENNEBEC VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGEBrownfields · 2300 ft
- PIKE INDUSTRIES PLANT 802Toxics Release Inventory · 2500 ft
- PIKE INDUSTRIES PLANT 802Brownfields · 2500 ft
- HAMMOND LUMBER COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- CIRCLE K #7094Brownfields · 2600 ft
- CIRCLE K #7094Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- AGWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fairfield'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 Fairfield.
Total Sites
309
within ~10 miles of Fairfield
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fairfield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fairfield
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fairfield, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Fairfield — Superfund (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (190 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Fairfield
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 Fairfield average
Your land is one point inside Fairfield
Everything above resolves to Fairfield as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Fairfield Average
Fairfield Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Fairfield
- ●One soil character for all of Fairfield
- ●Frost dates read at Fairfield's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fairfield's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fairfield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fairfield, Maine — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fairfield averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fairfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fairfield average
How we know this about Fairfield
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 Fairfield’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 Fairfield
When does frost risk typically end in Fairfield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fairfield 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 Fairfield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fairfield typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 181 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fairfield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fairfield sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 5, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fairfield?
The federal record around Fairfield is a meaningful one — 309 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (190), 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 Fairfield?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fairfield's scale — its 5b band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fairfield'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 Fairfield’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Fairfield's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,176 acres it covers and 309 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fairfield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fairfield's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 19 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 309 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fairfield, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fairfield's boundary and the 1,176 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Fairfield sits in the Acadian Plains and Hills — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Fairfieldlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fairfield's 1,176 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Somerset County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Somerset 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 Somerset County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fairfield's 1,176 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fairfield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,176 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 Fairfield-wide figureread your own land →
More in Maine
Wider growing context
What grows across MaineFairfield sits outside our named growing regions, so Maine as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides