North Haverhill, New Hampshire, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in North Haverhill, 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 North Haverhill 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 North Haverhill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Haverhill — the short answer
North Haverhill, New Hampshire: USDA zone 4b, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 4b is North Haverhill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Haverhill's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Haverhill
Each reading below is measured for North Haverhill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorth Haverhill runs about 161 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
MeasuredNorth Haverhill sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 North Haverhill is in
North Haverhill sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at North Haverhill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grafton County.
What Grows in North Haverhill
Every plant below cleared North Haverhill's own zone 4b and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Hampshire profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Haverhill?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — 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 North Haverhill
Survey cells within 31 miles of North Haverhill checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 36 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near North Haverhill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Haverhill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 14355Brownfields · 900 ft
- NORTH HAVERHILL MGT CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- GRIFFIN INTERNATIONALBrownfields · 1400 ft
- UPPER VALLEY PRESS, INC.Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- UPPER VALLEY TRANSPORT INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- R & M AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE CTRBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- Walter E. Jock Oil Co., Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Wells River BPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Former Wells River GulfUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- HAVERHILL HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- ERIK WHITE LLCBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- DEAN MEMORIAL AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Haverhill'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 North Haverhill.
Total Sites
206
within ~10 miles of North Haverhill
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Haverhill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Haverhill
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in North Haverhill
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 North Haverhill average
Your land is one point inside North Haverhill
Everything above resolves to North Haverhill as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 North Haverhill Average
North Haverhill Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across North Haverhill
- ●One soil character for all of North Haverhill
- ●Frost dates read at North Haverhill's scale: May 2 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Haverhill's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Haverhill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Haverhill, New Hampshire — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Haverhill averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Haverhill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Haverhill average
How we know this about North Haverhill
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 North Haverhill’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 North Haverhill
When does frost risk typically end in North Haverhill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Haverhill typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in North Haverhill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Haverhill typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Haverhill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Haverhill sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 26, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Haverhill?
The federal record around North Haverhill is a meaningful one — 206 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (120), the nearest Brownfields 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 North Haverhill?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at North Haverhill's scale — its 4b band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Haverhill'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 North Haverhill’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at North Haverhill's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,296 acres it covers and 206 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Haverhill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- North Haverhill's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 10 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 206 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Haverhill, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Haverhill's boundary and the 2,296 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Haverhill's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around North Haverhill checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so North Haverhill's 2,296 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grafton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grafton 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 Grafton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Haverhill's 2,296 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Haverhill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,296 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 North Haverhill-wide figureread your own land →
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