Granby, Massachusetts, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
You’re in Pioneer Valley
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.
Even in Granby, 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 Granby 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 Granby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Granby — the short answer
Granby, Massachusetts: USDA zone 6a, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- 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 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 6a is Granby's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Granby's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Granby
Each reading below is measured for Granby itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGranby runs about 189 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
MeasuredGranby sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Granby is in
Granby sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Granby's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Hampshire County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Granby
Every plant below cleared Granby's own zone 6a and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's Massachusetts profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Granby?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 24 — 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 Granby
Spotted lanternfly documented 6 miles from Granby, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Granby
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Granby. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RODRIGUEZ RESIDENCEBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- TOWN OF GRANBY ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICESBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 20007Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- C & G MACHINEBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- DRESSEL'S SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- DRESSELS SERVICE STATIONBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- KELLOG HALLBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- GRANBY HIGHWAY DEPT.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- SOUSA RESIDENCEBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- SANTANA RESIDENCEBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- DICKINSON FARM AND GREENHOUSEBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- DCR FACILITYBrownfields · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Granby'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 Granby.
Total Sites
2,088
within ~10 miles of Granby
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
14 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Granby
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Granby
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Granby, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 1,175 sites within ~10 miles of Granby. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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.
Check your specific parcel in Granby
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 Granby average
Your land is one point inside Granby
Everything above resolves to Granby as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Granby Average
Granby Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Granby
- ●One soil character for all of Granby
- ●Frost dates read at Granby's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Granby's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Granby
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Granby, Massachusetts — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Granby averages can't show:
We read public map data around Granby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Granby average
How we know this about Granby
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 Granby’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 Granby
When does frost risk typically end in Granby?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Granby 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 Granby?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Granby typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Granby?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Granby sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 10, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Granby?
The federal record around Granby is a meaningful one — 2,088 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (1,175), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Granby?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Granby's scale — its 6a band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Granby'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 Granby’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Granby's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,224 acres it covers and 2,088 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Granby's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Granby's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 24 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 2,088 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Granby, the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Granby's boundary and the 2,224 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Granby sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Granbylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Granby's 2,224 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hampshire County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hampshire County
- The growing challenges every Massachusetts grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Massachusetts
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Hampshire County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Granby's 2,224 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Granby you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,224 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Granby-wide figureread your own land →
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