Farmington, New Hampshire, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Farmington, 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 Farmington 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 Farmington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Farmington — the short answer
Farmington, New Hampshire: USDA zone 5b, about 184 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~184
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Farmington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Farmington's 184-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Farmington
Each reading below is measured for Farmington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFarmington runs about 184 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
MeasuredFarmington 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 Farmington is in
Farmington sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Farmington's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Strafford County is mostly Northeastern Coastal Zone. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Farmington
Every plant below cleared Farmington's own zone 5b and its 184-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Hampshire profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Farmington?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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 Farmington
Spotted lanternfly documented 18 miles from Farmington, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Farmington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Farmington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALTON SHOE COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 2400 ft
- ERNIES GAS & TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- NELSON PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MILLS MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MARC MAURAISUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- AJAX GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CURRIER GARAGE PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CARDINAL & GLIDDEN OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- CARDINAL LANDFILLSuperfund · 0.9 mi
- FORMER ALTON SHOE COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- FARMINGTON GULFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- AGGREGATE INDUSTRIES FARMINGTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Farmington'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 Farmington.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Farmington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Farmington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Farmington, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Farmington — Toxics Release Inventory (23 sites) and Superfund (4 sites). 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.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Farmington
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 Farmington average
Your land is one point inside Farmington
Everything above resolves to Farmington as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Farmington Average
Farmington Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Farmington
- ●One soil character for all of Farmington
- ●Frost dates read at Farmington's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Farmington's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Farmington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Farmington, New Hampshire — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Farmington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Farmington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Farmington average
How we know this about Farmington
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 Farmington’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 Farmington
When does frost risk typically end in Farmington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Farmington typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Farmington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Farmington typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 184 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Farmington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Farmington sees about 184 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 7, about 149 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Farmington?
The federal record around Farmington is a meaningful one — 312 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (164), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.5 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 Farmington?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Farmington's scale — its 5b band and its 184-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Farmington'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 Farmington’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Farmington's own scale — its own ~184-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,004 acres it covers and 312 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Farmington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Farmington's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 21 and the ~184-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 312 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Farmington, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Farmington's boundary and the 4,004 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~184-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Farmington sits in the Northeastern Highlands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Farmingtonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Farmington's 4,004 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Strafford County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Strafford 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 Strafford County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Farmington's 4,004 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Farmington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,004 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory 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 Farmington-wide figureread your own land →
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