Walpole, New Hampshire, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Walpole, 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 Walpole 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 Walpole — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Walpole — the short answer
Walpole, New Hampshire: USDA zone 5b, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 779 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 779 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 Walpole's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Walpole's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Walpole
Each reading below is measured for Walpole itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWalpole runs about 180 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
MeasuredWalpole 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 Walpole is in
Walpole sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Walpole's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cheshire County.
What Grows in Walpole
Every plant below cleared Walpole's own zone 5b and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Hampshire profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Walpole?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — 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 Walpole
Spotted lanternfly documented 12 miles from Walpole, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Walpole
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Walpole. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALPOLE SUNOCO STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- YELLOW FREIGHT SYSTEM INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- BELL ATLANTICUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WOODWARD FLORISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WALPOLE HATCHERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- HUBBARD FARMS BLDG 17 HUNTINGTON FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- WALPOLE MID & PRIMARY SCHOOLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BURTCO INCBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Burtco IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Community Feed Store, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Fall Mountains Motors, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- John's Car CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Walpole'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 Walpole.
Total Sites
241
within ~10 miles of Walpole
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Walpole
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Walpole
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Walpole, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Walpole. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Walpole
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 Walpole average
Your land is one point inside Walpole
Everything above resolves to Walpole as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 779 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 Walpole Average
Walpole Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Walpole
- ●One soil character for all of Walpole
- ●Frost dates read at Walpole's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Walpole's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Walpole
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Walpole, New Hampshire — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Walpole averages can't show:
We read public map data around Walpole — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Walpole average
How we know this about Walpole
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 Walpole’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 Walpole
When does frost risk typically end in Walpole?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Walpole typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Walpole?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Walpole typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Walpole?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Walpole sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 6, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Walpole?
The federal record around Walpole is a meaningful one — 241 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (124), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Walpole?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Walpole's scale — its 5b band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Walpole'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 Walpole’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Walpole's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 779 acres it covers and 241 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Walpole's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Walpole's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 20 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 241 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Walpole, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Walpole's boundary and the 779 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Walpole's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Walpolelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Walpole's 779 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cheshire County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cheshire 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 Cheshire County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Walpole's 779 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Walpole you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 779 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Walpole-wide figureread your own land →
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