Farmington, Maine, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Farmington, 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 Farmington 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 Farmington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Farmington — the short answer
Farmington, Maine: USDA zone 5a, about 163 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~163
- 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 5a is Farmington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Farmington's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Farmington
Each reading below is measured for Farmington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFarmington runs about 163 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
MeasuredFarmington 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 Farmington is in
Farmington sits in the Acadian Plains and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Farmington's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Franklin County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Farmington
Every plant below cleared Farmington's own zone 5a and its 163-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maine profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Farmington?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — 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 Farmington
Spotted lanternfly documented 7 miles from Farmington, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Farmington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Farmington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- U OF ME FARMINGTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FARMINGTON TIRE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- LAW ENFORC DETENTION FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- COCA COLA BOTTLING COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- NICKERSON BUICK OLDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- RACING MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- FAIRPOINT COMMUNICATIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- MARCEAU COURTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- C & R REALTY TRUSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CHESTERVILLE TOWN OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- FARMINGTON ME CIRCLE KUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CIRCLE K #7025Brownfields · 2000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Farmington'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 Farmington.
Total Sites
119
within ~10 miles of Farmington
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Farmington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Farmington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Farmington, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 77 sites within ~10 miles of Farmington. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Farmington
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 Farmington average
Your land is one point inside Farmington
Everything above resolves to Farmington 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 Farmington Average
Farmington Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Farmington
- ●One soil character for all of Farmington
- ●Frost dates read at Farmington's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Farmington's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Farmington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Farmington, Maine — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Farmington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Farmington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Farmington average
How we know this about Farmington
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 Farmington’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 Farmington
When does frost risk typically end in Farmington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Farmington typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Farmington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Farmington typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 163 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Farmington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Farmington sees about 163 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Sep 26, about 128 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Farmington?
The federal record around Farmington shows 119 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (77), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Farmington?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Farmington's scale — its 5a band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Farmington'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 Farmington’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Farmington's own scale — its own ~163-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,582 acres it covers and 119 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Farmington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Farmington's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 10 and the ~163-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 119 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Farmington, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Farmington's boundary and the 2,582 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~163-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Farmington 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 Farmingtonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Farmington's 2,582 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Franklin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Franklin 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 Franklin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Farmington's 2,582 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Farmington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,582 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Farmington-wide figureread your own land →