Pittsfield, Massachusetts, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pittsfield, 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 Pittsfield 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 Pittsfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pittsfield — the short answer
Pittsfield, Massachusetts: USDA zone 5b, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 26K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 26K 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 5b is Pittsfield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pittsfield's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pittsfield
Each reading below is measured for Pittsfield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPittsfield runs about 173 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
MeasuredPittsfield sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Pittsfield is in
Pittsfield sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Pittsfield's own centroid rather than borrowed from Berkshire County.
What Grows in Pittsfield
Every plant below cleared Pittsfield's own zone 5b and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Massachusetts profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pittsfield?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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.
Documented around Pittsfield
Spotted lanternfly documented 26 miles from Pittsfield, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Pittsfield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pittsfield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WESTERN MASS ELECTRIC COBrownfields · 850 ft
- PITTSFIELD SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- VALLONES AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Big Y Express #83Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- BIG Y EXPRESS 83Brownfields · 1500 ft
- PITTSFIELD TIRE & AUTO SERVICBrownfields · 1500 ft
- BIG Y FOODS INC AND PHARMACYBrownfields · 1500 ft
- CVS PHARMACY 0257Brownfields · 1600 ft
- MCKAY PARKING GARAGEBrownfields · 1700 ft
- PITTSFIELD FIRE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- PITTSFIELD TIRE & AUTO SERV CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- BERKSHIRE EAGLEBrownfields · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pittsfield'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 Pittsfield.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pittsfield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pittsfield
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Pittsfield
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 Pittsfield average
Your land is one point inside Pittsfield
Everything above resolves to Pittsfield as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 26K 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 city 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 Pittsfield Average
Pittsfield Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Pittsfield
- ●One soil character for all of Pittsfield
- ●Frost dates read at Pittsfield's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pittsfield's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pittsfield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pittsfield, Massachusetts — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pittsfield averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pittsfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pittsfield average
How we know this about Pittsfield
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Pittsfield’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Pittsfield
When does frost risk typically end in Pittsfield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pittsfield typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Pittsfield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pittsfield typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pittsfield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pittsfield sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 2, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pittsfield?
The federal record around Pittsfield is a meaningful one — 733 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (329), the nearest Brownfields 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 Pittsfield?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pittsfield's scale — its 5b band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pittsfield'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 Pittsfield’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Pittsfield's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 25,900 acres it covers and 733 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pittsfield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pittsfield's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 16 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 733 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pittsfield, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pittsfield's boundary and the 25,900 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pittsfield's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Pittsfieldlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pittsfield's 25,900 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Berkshire County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Berkshire 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 Berkshire County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pittsfield's 25,900 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pittsfield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 25,900 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Pittsfield-wide figureread your own land →
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