Epping, New Hampshire, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Epping, 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 Epping 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 Epping — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Epping — the short answer
Epping, New Hampshire: USDA zone 6a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- 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
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Epping's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Epping's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Epping
Each reading below is measured for Epping itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEpping runs about 186 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
MeasuredEpping 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 Epping is in
Epping sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Epping's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rockingham County.
What Grows in Epping
Every plant below cleared Epping's own zone 6a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Hampshire profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Epping?
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 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Epping
Spotted lanternfly documented 9 miles from Epping, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Epping
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Epping. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FLETCHS SANDBLASTING & PAINTING INCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- NH-EPW 7Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- NH-EPW 4Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- EPPING FIRE DEPT (FRMLY SONNY'S GULF)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- FECTEAU COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- WALGREENS 9250Brownfields · 1.3 mi
- DELUXE CLEANERSBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- CUMBERLAND FARMS 2817Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- CUMBERLAND FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- XTRA MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- EPPING SUNOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- MICHAELS 1153Brownfields · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Epping'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 Epping.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Epping
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Epping
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Epping, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Epping — Mining (59 sites) and PFAS (5 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Epping
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 Epping average
Your land is one point inside Epping
Everything above resolves to Epping as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Epping Average
Epping Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Epping
- ●One soil character for all of Epping
- ●Frost dates read at Epping's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Epping's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Epping
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Epping, New Hampshire — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Epping averages can't show:
We read public map data around Epping — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Epping average
How we know this about Epping
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 Epping’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 Epping
When does frost risk typically end in Epping?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Epping typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Epping?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Epping 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 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Epping?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Epping sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 8, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Epping?
The federal record around Epping runs heavier than most — 476 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (215), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.9 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 Epping?
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 Epping's scale — its 6a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Epping'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 Epping’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Epping's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,753 acres it covers and 476 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Epping's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Epping's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 22 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 476 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Epping, the closest Brownfields record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Epping's boundary and the 2,753 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Epping's own centroid, the Northeastern Coastal ZoneUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Eppinglydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Epping's 2,753 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 Epping's 2,753 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Epping you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,753 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.9 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 Epping-wide figureread your own land →
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