Amsterdam, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Amsterdam, 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 Amsterdam 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 Amsterdam — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Amsterdam — the short answer
Amsterdam, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Amsterdam's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Amsterdam's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Amsterdam
Each reading below is measured for Amsterdam itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAmsterdam runs about 188 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
MeasuredAmsterdam 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 Amsterdam is in
Amsterdam sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Amsterdam's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montgomery County.
What Grows in Amsterdam
Every plant below cleared Amsterdam's own zone 5b and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Amsterdam?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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 Amsterdam
Spotted lanternfly documented 9 miles from Amsterdam, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Amsterdam
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Amsterdam. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BUSH BROTHERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- EXECUTIVE GROUP MILLWORKBrownfields · 550 ft
- NYSDOT BRIDGE BIN 1051890Brownfields · 650 ft
- STEWART SHOP # 233Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- FRED'S AUTOMOBILE ENTERPRISES, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- FASTRAC #500272Brownfields · 900 ft
- F. & J. SIKORSKI AUTOMOTIVE, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FASTRAC MARKET #272 - AMSTERDAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- RITE AID #3336Brownfields · 1000 ft
- FORMER BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- GLSM INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- NORTHEASTERN WATERJETBrownfields · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Amsterdam'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 Amsterdam.
Total Sites
390
within ~10 miles of Amsterdam
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Amsterdam
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Amsterdam
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Amsterdam, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Amsterdam — CAFO (16 sites) and Superfund (8 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Amsterdam
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 Amsterdam average
Your land is one point inside Amsterdam
Everything above resolves to Amsterdam as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 city 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 Amsterdam Average
Amsterdam Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Amsterdam
- ●One soil character for all of Amsterdam
- ●Frost dates read at Amsterdam's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Amsterdam's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Amsterdam
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Amsterdam, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Amsterdam averages can't show:
We read public map data around Amsterdam — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Amsterdam average
How we know this about Amsterdam
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Amsterdam’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Amsterdam
When does frost risk typically end in Amsterdam?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Amsterdam typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Amsterdam?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Amsterdam typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Amsterdam?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Amsterdam sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 9, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Amsterdam?
The federal record around Amsterdam is a meaningful one — 390 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (175), 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 Amsterdam?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Amsterdam's scale — its 5b band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Amsterdam'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 Amsterdam’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Amsterdam's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,759 acres it covers and 390 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Amsterdam's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Amsterdam's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 23 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 390 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Amsterdam, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Amsterdam's boundary and the 3,759 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Amsterdam's own centroid, the Eastern Great Lakes LowlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Amsterdamlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Amsterdam's 3,759 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Montgomery County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Montgomery 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 Montgomery County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Amsterdam's 3,759 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Amsterdam you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,759 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 Amsterdam-wide figureread your own land →
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