Binghamton University, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Binghamton University, 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 Binghamton University 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 Binghamton University — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Binghamton University — the short answer
Binghamton University, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 496 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 496 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 Binghamton University's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Binghamton University's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Binghamton University
Each reading below is measured for Binghamton University itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBinghamton University runs about 175 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
MeasuredBinghamton University 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 Binghamton University is in
Binghamton University sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Binghamton University's own centroid rather than borrowed from Broome County.
What Grows in Binghamton University
Every plant below cleared Binghamton University's own zone 6a and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Binghamton University?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — 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 Binghamton University
Spotted lanternfly documented 2 miles from Binghamton University, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Binghamton University
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Binghamton University. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SUNY BINGHAMTONBrownfields · 800 ft
- FORMER BINGHAMTON PRESS COBrownfields · 2400 ft
- MILLER MOTOR CAR CORPBrownfields · 2600 ft
- BURDICK-RICH MOTORS, LTD.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- NYSEG BINGHAMTON SERVICE CTRBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY INFORMATION TECHBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- BINGHAMTON PRESS COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- VAN ATTA BUICK GMC TRUCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MILLER HONDAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- BINGHAMTON-JOHNSON CITY JOINT SEWAGE TREATMENT PLAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BINGHAMTON CORPORATE OFFICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- NYSEG NEW YORK STATE ELECTRIC AND GAS - HARPUR SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Binghamton University'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 Binghamton University.
Total Sites
1,017
within ~10 miles of Binghamton University
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
16 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Binghamton University
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Binghamton University
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Binghamton University, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Binghamton University — Superfund (16 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (63 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Binghamton University
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 Binghamton University average
Your land is one point inside Binghamton University
Everything above resolves to Binghamton University as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 496 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 Binghamton University Average
Binghamton University Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Binghamton University
- ●One soil character for all of Binghamton University
- ●Frost dates read at Binghamton University's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Binghamton University's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Binghamton University
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Binghamton University, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Binghamton University averages can't show:
We read public map data around Binghamton University — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Binghamton University average
How we know this about Binghamton University
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 Binghamton University’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 Binghamton University
When does frost risk typically end in Binghamton University?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Binghamton University typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Binghamton University?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Binghamton University typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Binghamton University?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Binghamton University sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Oct 6, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Binghamton University?
The federal record around Binghamton University runs heavier than most — 1,017 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (491), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Binghamton University?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Binghamton University's scale — its 6a band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Binghamton University'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 Binghamton University’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Binghamton University's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 496 acres it covers and 1,017 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Binghamton University's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Binghamton University's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 20 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,017 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Binghamton University, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Binghamton University's boundary and the 496 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Binghamton University's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Binghamton Universitylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Binghamton University's 496 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Broome County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Broome 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 Broome County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Binghamton University's 496 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Binghamton University you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 496 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Binghamton University-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkBinghamton University sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides