Almond, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Almond, 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 Almond 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 Almond — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Almond — the short answer
Almond, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 361 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 361 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 Almond's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Almond's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Almond
Each reading below is measured for Almond itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAlmond 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
MeasuredAlmond 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 Almond is in
Almond sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Almond's own centroid rather than borrowed from Allegany County.
What Grows in Almond
Every plant below cleared Almond's own zone 5b and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Almond?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — 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 Almond
Spotted lanternfly documented 5 miles from Almond, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Almond
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Almond. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOWN OF ALMONDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- 7-ELEVEN #35113Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- D J N AUTO BODYBrownfields · 1700 ft
- NYSDOT BIN 1061641 & 1061642 I-86 OVER RTE 2Brownfields · 2200 ft
- ALFRED-ALMOND CTRL SCHOOL BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- HANSON AGGREGATES - ALFRED PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- BUSY BEE DISPOSAL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- S C HANSEN INCBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- ALMOND AGGREGATES LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- TOWN OF ALFRED HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- ASK CHEMICALS HI-TECHBrownfields · 3.2 mi
- PATTON'S BUSY BEE DISPOSAL SERSuperfund · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Almond'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 Almond.
Total Sites
189
within ~10 miles of Almond
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Almond
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Almond
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Almond, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 9 sites within ~10 miles of Almond. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Almond
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 Almond average
Your land is one point inside Almond
Everything above resolves to Almond as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 361 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 Almond Average
Almond Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Almond
- ●One soil character for all of Almond
- ●Frost dates read at Almond's scale: May 5 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Almond's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Almond
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Almond, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Almond averages can't show:
We read public map data around Almond — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Almond average
How we know this about Almond
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 Almond’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 Almond
When does frost risk typically end in Almond?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Almond typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Almond?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Almond typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Almond?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Almond sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 29, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Almond?
The federal record around Almond is a meaningful one — 189 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (80), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Almond?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Almond's scale — its 5b band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Almond'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 Almond’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Almond's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 361 acres it covers and 189 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Almond's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Almond's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 13 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 189 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Almond, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Almond's boundary and the 361 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Almond's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Almondlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Almond's 361 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Allegany County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Allegany County
- The growing challenges every New York grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New York
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Allegany County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Almond's 361 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Almond you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 361 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Almond-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkAlmond sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides