North Woodstock, New Hampshire, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 North Woodstock, 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 Woodstock 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 Woodstock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Woodstock — the short answer
North Woodstock, New Hampshire: USDA zone 5a, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 5a is North Woodstock's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Woodstock's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Woodstock
Each reading below is measured for North Woodstock itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorth Woodstock runs about 166 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 Woodstock sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Woodstock is in
North Woodstock sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at North Woodstock's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grafton County.
What Grows in North Woodstock
Every plant below cleared North Woodstock's own zone 5a and its 166-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Hampshire profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Woodstock?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — 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 North Woodstock
Survey cells within 31 miles of North Woodstock checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 44 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near North Woodstock
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Woodstock. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAIRPOINTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- FORMERLY DRAKES EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BURNDY LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BURNDY LLCToxics Release Inventory · 0.9 mi
- BURNDY LLCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- NH DOT PS 115Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- FMR MUNCES KONVENIENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- KANCAMAGUS COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- DICKS SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- PRICE CHOPPER 04Brownfields · 1.2 mi
- WILSONS MOBIL SERVICES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- ST JOSEPH CHURCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Woodstock'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 Woodstock.
Total Sites
98
within ~10 miles of North Woodstock
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Woodstock
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Woodstock
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Woodstock, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of North Woodstock — Nitrate (52 sites) and Mining (8 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in North Woodstock
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 Woodstock average
Your land is one point inside North Woodstock
Everything above resolves to North Woodstock as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Woodstock Average
North Woodstock Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across North Woodstock
- ●One soil character for all of North Woodstock
- ●Frost dates read at North Woodstock's scale: May 1 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Woodstock's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Woodstock
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Woodstock, New Hampshire — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Woodstock averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Woodstock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Woodstock average
How we know this about North Woodstock
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 Woodstock’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 Woodstock
When does frost risk typically end in North Woodstock?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Woodstock typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in North Woodstock?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Woodstock typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 166 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Woodstock?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Woodstock sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 30, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Woodstock?
The federal record around North Woodstock is a meaningful one — 98 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (52), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Woodstock?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at North Woodstock's scale — its 5a band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Woodstock'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 Woodstock’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at North Woodstock's own scale — its own ~166-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,034 acres it covers and 98 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Woodstock's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- North Woodstock's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 14 and the ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 98 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Woodstock, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Woodstock's boundary and the 1,034 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Woodstock's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around North Woodstock 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 Woodstock's 1,034 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 Woodstock's 1,034 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Woodstock you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,034 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Woodstock-wide figureread your own land →
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