Madawaska, Maine, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Madawaska, 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 Madawaska 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 Madawaska — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Madawaska — the short answer
Madawaska, Maine: USDA zone 4b, about 154 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~154
- 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 4b is Madawaska's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Madawaska's 154-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Madawaska
Each reading below is measured for Madawaska itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMadawaska runs about 154 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
MeasuredMadawaska sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Madawaska is in
Madawaska sits in the Acadian Plains and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Madawaska's own centroid rather than borrowed from Aroostook County.
What Grows in Madawaska
Every plant below cleared Madawaska's own zone 4b and its 154-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maine profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Madawaska?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Madawaska
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Madawaska. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DESCHAINE SANITATION SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CHASE, NORMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- MADAWASKA TOWN GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #2158Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- BOBS SVC CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- GERVAIS, JORIUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- FAIRPOINT COMMUNICATIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- BOBS NEIGHBORHOOD STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- LARRYS SVC CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- WILS MOTOR MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- DOCS PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Madawaska'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 Madawaska.
Total Sites
81
within ~10 miles of Madawaska
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Madawaska
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Madawaska
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Madawaska, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 65 sites within ~10 miles of Madawaska. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Madawaska
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 Madawaska average
Your land is one point inside Madawaska
Everything above resolves to Madawaska 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 Madawaska Average
Madawaska Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Madawaska
- ●One soil character for all of Madawaska
- ●Frost dates read at Madawaska's scale: May 5 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Madawaska's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Madawaska
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Madawaska, Maine — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Madawaska averages can't show:
We read public map data around Madawaska — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Madawaska average
How we know this about Madawaska
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 Madawaska’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 Madawaska
When does frost risk typically end in Madawaska?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Madawaska typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Madawaska?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Madawaska typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 154 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Madawaska?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Madawaska sees about 154 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 22, about 119 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Madawaska?
The federal record around Madawaska shows 81 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (65), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Madawaska?
From about Sep 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Madawaska's scale — its 4b band and its 154-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Madawaska'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 Madawaska’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Madawaska's own scale — its own ~154-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,386 acres it covers and 81 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Madawaska's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Madawaska's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 6 and the ~154-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 81 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Madawaska, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Madawaska's boundary and the 3,386 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~154-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Madawaska's own centroid, the Acadian Plains and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Madawaska's 3,386 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Aroostook County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Aroostook 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 Aroostook County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Madawaska's 3,386 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Madawaska you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,386 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Madawaska-wide figureread your own land →
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