Massachusetts spans USDA hardiness zones 5a-7b, with a growing season of about 170 frost-free days — room for most garden staples, with a calendar tight enough that frost dates still call the shots.
The raw materials of the growing year here: 42-50 inches of annual rainfall, a median of roughly 2,900 growing-degree days (base 50°F), and about 1,500 winter chill hours for tree fruit. Underfoot it's mostly glacial till, sandy loam, rocky loam, and coastal sand — and how those drain decides more about crop success than almost anything else. Between Cape Cod & the Islands and The Berkshires, the growing rules shift enough that zone and frost advice only turns precise once you pick your region. On paper, tomato, blueberry, sugar maple, and zucchini all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Grounded inUSDA PHZM 2023•NOAA Climate Normals•USDA NRCS SSURGO•GDD aggregate (Cornell CALS)•Chill-hour aggregate (MSU Extension)•USDA hardiness sub-region map•EPA FRS•USDA PLANTS•Growable Ground suitability scoring
Massachusetts spans zones 5a-7b, but your yard sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. Enter your address and we'll score 1,112 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
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Every corner of Massachusetts sits in one of these growing regions — each with its own hardiness band, season length, and character.
A sandy, sea-wrapped peninsula and islands with the state's warmest, longest season — and its most maritime one. Acidic soils long worked for cranberries and beach plums; wind and salt are the constant neighbors of every garden.
Explore Cape Cod & the Islands →The state's dense urban core, where growing means raised beds, community plots, and back-lot kitchen gardens more than open field. A long, mild season for the region — but city soil is the thing to know before you dig.
The Connecticut River's broad valley floor — the richest farm ground in the state, deep alluvial soils and a warmer pocket than the hills on either side. Long a market-garden and tobacco valley; a forgiving place to grow.
The inland heart of the state — rolling upland, cooler nights, and a shorter season than the coast. Stony glacial soils that reward the gardener who feeds and drains them.
The settled coast north of Boston — salt air, tidy town lots, and sea-tempered winters that hold the cold off a little longer than the hills inland. Wind and salt spray are the near-shore gardener's companions here.
The coastal band south of Boston into old cranberry country — sandy, acidic ground and a maritime season that runs a touch longer than the interior. Bog and shoreline shape what has always grown well down here.
The low coastal plain of the South Coast — mild, moist, and worked for market vegetables and small orchards for generations. One of the gentler corners of the Massachusetts growing map.
Western Massachusetts' cool, hilly uplands — rocky glacial soils, cold winters, and the state's shortest season. Apples, maples, and cold-hardy market gardens are the crops that have always made sense on this high ground.
Explore The Berkshires →
USDA Zones
5a-7b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last Frost
Apr 10 - May 20
NOAA 30-yr Normals
First Frost
Sep 20 - Oct 30
NOAA 30-yr Normals
Annual Rainfall
42-50 inches
NOAA Climate Normals
Zone maps are averages across Massachusetts. Your yard's slope, trees, and frost pockets shift what actually grows — see your land's exact reading.
The soil types that dominate Massachusetts — how each drains decides more about crop success than almost anything else. Tap any soil to learn what it is and how to work with it.
Drainage
Variable by the shovelful. Sandy till drains freely; dense, compacted till (hardpan) can perch water above it after snowmelt and heavy rain.
What thrives
Apples, stone fruits, brambles, and the whole northern vegetable garden do well on till — much of New England and the upper Midwest farms it. Deep-rooted perennials work through the stony structure happily.
Drainage
Fast. The sand fraction opens the soil up, so water moves through the root zone quickly and the surface rarely stays soggy. The trade is that nutrients ride out with the water.
What thrives
Root crops love it — carrots, potatoes, radishes, and onions size up cleanly in ground they can push through. Melons, sweet potatoes, asparagus, and most herbs appreciate the warmth and the drainage.
See the glacial-till profile — rocky loam is the same stone-threaded ground.
Drainage
Good. The stones keep channels open through the profile, and rocky ground rarely waterlogs.
What thrives
Fruit trees, brambles, asparagus, herbs, and deep-rooted perennials thread between the stones happily. Root crops that need clean, straight runs — long carrots, parsnips — prefer a picked-over or raised bed.
Drainage
Extremely fast. Rain and irrigation vanish through it almost as fast as they land.
What thrives
Salt-tough plants earn their keep here: beach plum, bayberry, seaside goldenrod, rugosa roses, and hardy herbs like rosemary. Vegetables produce well in amended beds sheltered from the wind.
Soil data: USDA NRCS SSURGO · Soil types explained
Plants well-suited to Massachusetts's climate, soils, and growing season — each links to its full growing profile.
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Across Massachusetts, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near Apr 2, with the middle half of counties between Mar 27 and Apr 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Nov 14 and Dec 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
The plants Massachusetts put its name on — cultural emblems, not growing recommendations.
Mayflower
Epigaea repens
Designated 1918.
Ulmus americana
Designated 1941. In our plant library — see its full growing profile.
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in Massachusetts — a real per-state range, not just a zone match. Presence is statewide, so a plant may still be uncommon in your specific county; your state’s Cooperative Extension or a native-plant society is the local authority.
US-native plants whose hardiness range overlaps Massachusetts’s USDA zones 5a-7b but which USDA PLANTS doesn’t map to a single state range here. Zone overlap is a starting filter, not a range map.
What an experienced grower plans around here — each one has a move.
Short growing season (120-180 frost-free days) limits warm-season crops
Pick fast-maturing varieties and start warm-season crops indoors — a cold frame or low tunnel reliably adds weeks on either end.
Rocky glacial soils require amendment in many areas
A raised bed with imported soil skips the rock-picking entirely and starts your first season on your terms.
Late spring frosts can damage early plantings through mid-May
Trust your local last-frost window over the calendar — hardy greens can go out weeks early while tender transplants wait it out.
Deer pressure is significant in suburban and rural areas
An 8-foot fence — or a slanted double line — is the fix that actually holds; lean the unfenced edges toward deer-resistant herbs, ferns, and bulbs.
For cultivar selection, pest pressure, and planting-time guidance specific to Massachusetts, the UMass Extension is the authoritative local source.
Safe to Grow Here?What the federal record shows across Massachusetts — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Massachusetts — 40,795 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 417 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Massachusetts carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Severity Distribution
across Massachusetts
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Massachusetts, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 23,042 sites nearby. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
State averages sketch the shape. Your soil, sun exposure, drainage, and microclimate decide what actually takes. Pull a site-specific report for your exact parcel.
Enter your address. We read your soil, sun, drainage, and frost dates, then score 1,112 plants against the real conditions on your land.
Three things about your exact spot that zone averages miss:
We read public map data for this spot — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources analyzed in seconds
Massachusetts spans USDA hardiness zones 5a-7b, per the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 weather data.
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Across Massachusetts, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near Apr 2, with the middle half of counties between Mar 27 and Apr 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Nov 14 and Dec 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Across Massachusetts, the middle half of counties see their last hard freeze (28°F) between about Mar 27 and Apr 6, with a county median near Apr 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — light frosts can still bite for a few more weeks, so tender transplants usually wait another 2–3 weeks.
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, growing seasons across Massachusetts's counties mostly run about 223 to 249 days, with a county median near 232 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender crops get a somewhat shorter practical window, since lighter frosts reach a few weeks past the hard-freeze dates on both ends.
Massachusetts's zones 5a-7b support a wide range — strong performers include Tomato, Blueberry, Sugar Maple, Zucchini, and Kale. What actually takes on any one site comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage, and we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
Officially, Massachusetts spans USDA zones 5a-7b (USDA PHZM 2023) — but a zone is a 30-year average of winter's coldest night across an area, and it can't see any one yard. A south-facing slope, a tree line, or a low frost pocket can shift a single site by half a zone either way, which is why neighboring gardeners often quote different numbers. We read the conditions at your exact address — soil, sun, slope, and frost — and score 1,112 plants against what's actually there.
The federal record across Massachusetts runs heavier than most — 40,795 documented sites — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
Start with three facts. Massachusetts spans USDA zones 5a-7b, which sets what survives winter; last hard freezes range from about Mar 27 to Apr 6 across its counties (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and 40,795 documented sites sit on the federal record here, so a soil test before food beds is the smart first step. From there, matching plants to your actual soil and sun is the fun part.
Everything on this page is a Massachusetts average. Your yard writes its own version — we read soil, sun, drainage, and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Explore growing conditions by city or town in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts shares its dominant growing region with these states — a useful comparison if you're weighing where a crop will behave the same way.
