Derry, New Hampshire, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, 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 Derry, 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 Derry 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 Derry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Derry — the short answer
Derry, New Hampshire: USDA zone 6a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 10K 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 Derry's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Derry's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Derry
Each reading below is measured for Derry itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDerry runs about 188 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
MeasuredDerry 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 Derry is in
Derry sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Derry's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rockingham County.
What Grows in Derry
Every plant below cleared Derry's own zone 6a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Hampshire profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Derry?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 Derry
Spotted lanternfly documented 19 miles from Derry, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Derry
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Derry. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LANNAN CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- EAST DERRY FIRE PRECINCTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TRUE & NOYES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FORMER DAVE ALLEN LINCOLN MERCURYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- DERRY CIRCLE KUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- 7 ELEVEN 32500Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- NH-DFW 150Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- MERRIMACK TILE CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- WATTS AUTO SALVAGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- FIRST STUDENT INC 20619Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- BIRCHWOOD NURSING HOMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- MOBIL 10965Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Derry'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 Derry.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Derry
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Derry
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Derry, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 68 sites within ~10 miles of Derry. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Derry
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 Derry average
Your land is one point inside Derry
Everything above resolves to Derry as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 10K 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 Derry Average
Derry Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Derry
- ●One soil character for all of Derry
- ●Frost dates read at Derry's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Derry's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Derry
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Derry, New Hampshire — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Derry averages can't show:
We read public map data around Derry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Derry average
How we know this about Derry
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 Derry’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 Derry
When does frost risk typically end in Derry?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Derry typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Derry?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Derry typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Derry?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Derry sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 8, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Derry?
The federal record around Derry runs heavier than most — 985 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (426), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out — 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Derry?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Derry's scale — its 6a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Derry'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 Derry’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Derry's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 10,255 acres it covers and 985 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Derry's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Derry's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 22 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 985 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Derry, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Derry's boundary and the 10,255 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Derry's own centroid, the Northeastern Coastal ZoneUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Derrylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Derry's 10,255 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rockingham County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rockingham 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 Rockingham County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Derry's 10,255 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Derry you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,255 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Derry-wide figureread your own land →