Batavia, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Batavia, 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 Batavia 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 Batavia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Batavia — the short answer
Batavia, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- 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 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 6a is Batavia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Batavia's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Batavia
Each reading below is measured for Batavia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBatavia runs about 196 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
MeasuredBatavia sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Batavia is in
Batavia sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Batavia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Genesee County.
What Grows in Batavia
Every plant below cleared Batavia's own zone 6a and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Batavia?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 31 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Batavia
Spotted lanternfly documented 24 miles from Batavia, first recorded 2018. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Batavia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Batavia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UNITED MEMORIAL MEDICAL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 50 ft
- GENESEE PATRONS CO-OP INSURANCE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- FLEET NATIONAL BANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- GEORGE E SMITH MOTORS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- BATAVIA CHRYSLER PLYMOUTH JEEPBrownfields · 800 ft
- SHERWIN-WILLIAMS #701639Brownfields · 1100 ft
- STRONG FORGE & FABRICATION LLCBrownfields · 1200 ft
- KWIK FILL A0007-111Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ACCESS RENTALS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- SOCCIO & DELLA PENNA INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- BATAVIA TAILORS & CLEANERS INCBrownfields · 1500 ft
- JIFFY LUBE STORE #3030Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Batavia'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 Batavia.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Batavia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Batavia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Batavia, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 31 sites within ~10 miles of Batavia. 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.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Batavia
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 Batavia average
Your land is one point inside Batavia
Everything above resolves to Batavia 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 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 Batavia Average
Batavia Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Batavia
- ●One soil character for all of Batavia
- ●Frost dates read at Batavia's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 31
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Batavia's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Batavia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Batavia, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Batavia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Batavia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Batavia average
How we know this about Batavia
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 Batavia’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 Batavia
When does frost risk typically end in Batavia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Batavia 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 Batavia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Batavia typically arrives around Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 17, so the watching starts about Oct 1 — about 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Batavia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Batavia sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 17, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Batavia?
The federal record around Batavia is a meaningful one — 381 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (204), 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 Batavia?
From about Oct 1 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 31 (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 31. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Batavia's scale — its 6a band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Batavia'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 Batavia’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Batavia's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,325 acres it covers and 381 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Batavia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Batavia's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 31 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 381 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Batavia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Batavia's boundary and the 3,325 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Batavia's own centroid, the Eastern Great Lakes LowlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Batavialydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Batavia's 3,325 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Genesee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Genesee 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 Genesee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Batavia's 3,325 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Batavia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,325 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 Batavia-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkBatavia sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.