Concord, New Hampshire, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Concord, 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 Concord 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 Concord — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Concord — the short answer
Concord, New Hampshire: USDA zone 5b, about 174 days between hard freezes, across 41K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- 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
- ~174
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 41K 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 Concord's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Concord's 174-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Concord
Each reading below is measured for Concord itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredConcord runs about 174 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
MeasuredConcord 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 Concord is in
Concord sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Concord's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Merrimack County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Concord
Every plant below cleared Concord's own zone 5b and its 174-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Hampshire profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Concord?
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 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (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. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Concord
Spotted lanternfly documented 20 miles from Concord, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Concord
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Concord. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CONCORD DPW FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 75 ft
- HP HOOD LLCToxics Release Inventory · 250 ft
- HP HOOD LLCBrownfields · 250 ft
- CROWLEY FOODS (HOOD)Underground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- CONCORD DEPT OF PUBLIC WORKSBrownfields · 1200 ft
- NH DEPT OF CORRECTIONBrownfields · 1600 ft
- SWENSON GRANITE LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ROCKYS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CORRIVEAU ROUTHIER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- STATE PRISONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- NH STATE PRISON WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- UNITIL ENERGY SYSTEMS INCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Concord'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 Concord.
Total Sites
840
within ~10 miles of Concord
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Concord
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Concord
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Concord, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 310 sites within ~10 miles of Concord. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Concord
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 Concord average
Your land is one point inside Concord
Everything above resolves to Concord as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 41K 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 Concord Average
Concord Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Concord
- ●One soil character for all of Concord
- ●Frost dates read at Concord's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Concord's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Concord
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Concord, New Hampshire — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Concord averages can't show:
We read public map data around Concord — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Concord average
How we know this about Concord
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 Concord’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 Concord
When does frost risk typically end in Concord?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Concord typically lands around Apr 25, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Concord?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Concord 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 174 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Concord?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Concord sees about 174 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Oct 2, about 139 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Concord?
The federal record around Concord is a meaningful one — 840 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (310), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Concord?
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 Concord's scale — its 5b band and its 174-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Concord'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 Concord’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Concord's own scale — its own ~174-day season between 28°F freezes, the 40,936 acres it covers and 840 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Concord's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Concord's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 16 and the ~174-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 840 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Concord, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Concord's boundary and the 40,936 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~174-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Concord 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 Concordlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Concord's 40,936 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Merrimack County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Merrimack 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 Merrimack County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Concord's 40,936 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Concord you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 40,936 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Concord-wide figureread your own land →
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