Bennington, New Hampshire, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bennington, 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 Bennington 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 Bennington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bennington — the short answer
Bennington, New Hampshire: USDA zone 5b, about 178 days between hard freezes, across 276 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~178
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 276 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 Bennington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bennington's 178-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bennington
Each reading below is measured for Bennington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBennington runs about 178 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
MeasuredBennington 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 Bennington is in
Bennington sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Bennington's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hillsborough County.
What Grows in Bennington
Every plant below cleared Bennington's own zone 5b and its 178-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Hampshire profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bennington?
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 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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 Bennington
Spotted lanternfly documented 28 miles from Bennington, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Bennington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bennington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BENNINGTON GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- NH-BNW 30Nitrate · 1100 ft
- NEWHALL GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- MONADNOCK PAPER MILLS, INC.Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- MONADNOCK PAPER MILLS, INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- MONADNOCK PAPER MILLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- US 202 EXPRESS MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- SUNOCO GAS STATIONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- STONYBROOK FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL 18270Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- RYMES HEATING OILS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- NH-GSW 30Nitrate · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bennington'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 Bennington.
Total Sites
211
within ~10 miles of Bennington
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bennington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bennington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bennington, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 56 sites within ~10 miles of Bennington. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Bennington
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 Bennington average
Your land is one point inside Bennington
Everything above resolves to Bennington as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 276 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 Bennington Average
Bennington Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Bennington
- ●One soil character for all of Bennington
- ●Frost dates read at Bennington's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bennington's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bennington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bennington, New Hampshire — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bennington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bennington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bennington average
How we know this about Bennington
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 Bennington’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 Bennington
When does frost risk typically end in Bennington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bennington typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Bennington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bennington typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 178 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bennington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bennington sees about 178 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 5, about 143 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bennington?
The federal record around Bennington is a meaningful one — 211 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (110), 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 Bennington?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bennington's scale — its 5b band and its 178-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bennington'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 Bennington’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Bennington's own scale — its own ~178-day season between 28°F freezes, the 276 acres it covers and 211 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bennington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bennington's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 19 and the ~178-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 211 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bennington, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bennington's boundary and the 276 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~178-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bennington's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Benningtonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bennington's 276 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hillsborough County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hillsborough County
- The growing challenges every New Hampshire grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New Hampshire
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Hillsborough County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bennington's 276 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bennington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 276 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 Bennington-wide figureread your own land →
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