Averill Park, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Averill Park, 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 Averill Park 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 Averill Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Averill Park — the short answer
Averill Park, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Averill Park's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Averill Park's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Averill Park
Each reading below is measured for Averill Park itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAverill Park runs about 181 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
MeasuredAverill Park 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 Averill Park is in
Averill Park sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Averill Park's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rensselaer County.
What Grows in Averill Park
Every plant below cleared Averill Park's own zone 5b and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Averill Park?
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 Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 Averill Park
Spotted lanternfly documented 11 miles from Averill Park, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Averill Park
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Averill Park. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AVERILL PARK HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 2200 ft
- NEW YORK TELEPHONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3115Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3115Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- N & L AUTO BODY REPAIR INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- KLEEN SOLUTIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- AVERILL PARK CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- PARK PLAZA DBA ON THE GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- MILLER'S AUTOMOTIVE SERVICES INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- WASTE MANAGEMENT - POESTENKILL TRANSFER STATIONToxics Release Inventory · 1.5 mi
- ANTHONY J HILL INCBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- L J VALENTE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Averill Park'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 Averill Park.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Averill Park
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Averill Park
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Averill Park, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Averill Park — Superfund (11 sites) and PFAS (6 sites). 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.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Averill Park
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 Averill Park average
Your land is one point inside Averill Park
Everything above resolves to Averill Park as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Averill Park Average
Averill Park Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Averill Park
- ●One soil character for all of Averill Park
- ●Frost dates read at Averill Park's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Averill Park's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Averill Park
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Averill Park, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Averill Park averages can't show:
We read public map data around Averill Park — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Averill Park average
How we know this about Averill Park
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 Averill Park’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 Averill Park
When does frost risk typically end in Averill Park?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Averill Park typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Averill Park?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Averill Park typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 181 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Averill Park?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Averill Park sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 8, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Averill Park?
The federal record around Averill Park is a meaningful one — 734 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (408), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Averill Park?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Averill Park's scale — its 5b band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Averill Park'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 Averill Park’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Averill Park's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,584 acres it covers and 734 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Averill Park's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Averill Park's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 22 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 734 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Averill Park, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Averill Park's boundary and the 2,584 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Averill Park's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Averill Parklydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Averill Park's 2,584 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rensselaer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rensselaer 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 Rensselaer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Averill Park's 2,584 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Averill Park you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,584 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Averill Park-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkAverill Park sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides