Arkport, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Arkport, 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 Arkport 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 Arkport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Arkport — the short answer
Arkport, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 444 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- 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
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 444 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 Arkport's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Arkport's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Arkport
Each reading below is measured for Arkport itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredArkport 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
MeasuredArkport 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 Arkport is in
Arkport sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Arkport's own centroid rather than borrowed from Steuben County.
What Grows in Arkport
Every plant below cleared Arkport'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 Arkport?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Arkport
Spotted lanternfly documented 10 miles from Arkport, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Arkport
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Arkport. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CY'S SHURSAVE FOOD SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- 7-ELEVEN INC #35111Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- SB 180Nitrate · 1200 ft
- HARWOOD'S QUAKER STATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- HP HOOD LLC CROWLEY FOODS ARKPORTBrownfields · 1400 ft
- HP HOOD LLC CROWLEY FOODS ARKPORTToxics Release Inventory · 1400 ft
- ARKPORT CENTRAL SCHOOLBrownfields · 1600 ft
- ARKPORT CENTRAL SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- HP HOOD LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- AGWAY REGIONAL FEED PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- UNITED PARCEL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- GOTTSCHALL'S REFUSE REMOVALUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Arkport'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 Arkport.
Total Sites
191
within ~10 miles of Arkport
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Arkport
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Arkport
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Arkport, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Arkport. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Arkport
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 Arkport average
Your land is one point inside Arkport
Everything above resolves to Arkport as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 444 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 Arkport Average
Arkport Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Arkport
- ●One soil character for all of Arkport
- ●Frost dates read at Arkport's scale: May 6 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Arkport's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Arkport
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Arkport, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Arkport averages can't show:
We read public map data around Arkport — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Arkport average
How we know this about Arkport
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 Arkport’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 Arkport
When does frost risk typically end in Arkport?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Arkport typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Arkport?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Arkport 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 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Arkport?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Arkport sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 30, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Arkport?
The federal record around Arkport is a meaningful one — 191 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (81), 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 Arkport?
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 Arkport's scale — its 5b band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Arkport'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 Arkport’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Arkport's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 444 acres it covers and 191 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Arkport's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Arkport's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 14 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 191 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Arkport, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Arkport's boundary and the 444 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 Arkport's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Arkportlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Arkport's 444 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Steuben County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Steuben 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 Steuben County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Arkport's 444 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Arkport you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 444 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 Arkport-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Growing region
Nearby growing guides