Whitefield, New Hampshire, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Whitefield, 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 Whitefield 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 Whitefield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Whitefield — the short answer
Whitefield, New Hampshire: USDA zone 4b, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- 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 4b is Whitefield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Whitefield's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Whitefield
Each reading below is measured for Whitefield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWhitefield runs about 151 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
MeasuredWhitefield 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 Whitefield is in
Whitefield sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Whitefield's own centroid rather than borrowed from Coos County.
What Grows in Whitefield
Every plant below cleared Whitefield's own zone 4b and its 151-day season. Each card opens that plant's New Hampshire profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Whitefield?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around Whitefield
Survey cells within 31 miles of Whitefield checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 63 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Whitefield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Whitefield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WHITEFIELD CAR CARE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- LUFKINS SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- GRIMARDS USED CARS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- GEORGE FIELDUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- WHITEFIELD JIFFY MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS 2834Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- J J GALLAGHERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- NH-WLW 58Nitrate · 1800 ft
- ELMER FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- TOWN OF WHITEFIELD GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 13570Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- FORMER STILES FUELUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Whitefield'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 Whitefield.
Total Sites
255
within ~10 miles of Whitefield
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Whitefield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Whitefield
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Whitefield, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 84 sites within ~10 miles of Whitefield. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Whitefield
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 Whitefield average
Your land is one point inside Whitefield
Everything above resolves to Whitefield 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 Whitefield Average
Whitefield Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Whitefield
- ●One soil character for all of Whitefield
- ●Frost dates read at Whitefield's scale: May 8 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Whitefield's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Whitefield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Whitefield, New Hampshire — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Whitefield averages can't show:
We read public map data around Whitefield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Whitefield average
How we know this about Whitefield
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 Whitefield’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 Whitefield
When does frost risk typically end in Whitefield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Whitefield typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Whitefield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Whitefield typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Whitefield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Whitefield sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 22, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Whitefield?
The federal record around Whitefield is a meaningful one — 255 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (113), 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 Whitefield?
From about Sep 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Whitefield's scale — its 4b band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Whitefield'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 Whitefield’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Whitefield's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,020 acres it covers and 255 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Whitefield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Whitefield's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 6 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 255 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Whitefield, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Whitefield's boundary and the 1,020 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Whitefield's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Whitefield 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 Whitefield's 1,020 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Coos County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Coos 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 Coos County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Whitefield's 1,020 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Whitefield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,020 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 Whitefield-wide figureread your own land →
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