Hampden, Maine, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Hampden, 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 Hampden 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 Hampden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hampden — the short answer
Hampden, Maine: USDA zone 5a, about 187 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~187
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 Hampden's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hampden's 187-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hampden
Each reading below is measured for Hampden itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHampden runs about 187 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
MeasuredHampden 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 Hampden is in
Hampden sits in the Acadian Plains and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hampden's own centroid rather than borrowed from Penobscot County.
What Grows in Hampden
Every plant below cleared Hampden's own zone 5a and its 187-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maine profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hampden?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 Hampden
Spotted lanternfly documented 10 miles from Hampden, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Hampden
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hampden. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BIG APPLE HAMPDENUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- HAMPDEN NITE OWLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- HAMPDEN FIRE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- HAMPDEN EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CIRCLE K #7057Brownfields · 1300 ft
- HAMPDEN MAINWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WALGREENS 18112Brownfields · 1500 ft
- ENI 2332 (TRADEWINDS)Brownfields · 2400 ft
- TRADEWINDS MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- ROAD & SEA TRANSPORT INCBrownfields · 2400 ft
- NORTHERN LIGHT EASTERN MAINE MEDICAL CENTER FAMILY MEDICINE HAMPDENBrownfields · 2400 ft
- NEWBURGH COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hampden'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 Hampden.
Total Sites
596
within ~10 miles of Hampden
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hampden
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hampden
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hampden, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Hampden. 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.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Hampden
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 Hampden average
Your land is one point inside Hampden
Everything above resolves to Hampden as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Hampden Average
Hampden Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Hampden
- ●One soil character for all of Hampden
- ●Frost dates read at Hampden's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hampden's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hampden
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hampden, Maine — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hampden averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hampden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hampden average
How we know this about Hampden
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 Hampden’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 Hampden
When does frost risk typically end in Hampden?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hampden typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Hampden?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hampden typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 187 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hampden?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hampden sees about 187 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 8, about 152 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hampden?
The federal record around Hampden is a meaningful one — 596 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (327), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Hampden?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hampden's scale — its 5a band and its 187-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hampden'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 Hampden’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Hampden's own scale — its own ~187-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,016 acres it covers and 596 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hampden's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hampden's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 22 and the ~187-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 596 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hampden, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hampden's boundary and the 7,016 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~187-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hampden's own centroid, the Acadian Plains and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Hampdenlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hampden's 7,016 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 Hampden's 7,016 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hampden you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,016 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 Hampden-wide figureread your own land →
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