Brewerton, 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 Brewerton, 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 Brewerton 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 Brewerton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Brewerton — the short answer
Brewerton, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Brewerton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Brewerton's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Brewerton
Each reading below is measured for Brewerton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBrewerton runs about 197 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
MeasuredBrewerton 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 Brewerton is in
Brewerton sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Brewerton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Onondaga County.
What Grows in Brewerton
Every plant below cleared Brewerton's own zone 5b and its 197-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Brewerton?
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 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — 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 Brewerton
Spotted lanternfly documented 12 miles from Brewerton, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Brewerton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Brewerton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VISION DEVELOPMENT, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- KINNEY DRUGS STORE #32Brownfields · 1500 ft
- SCHNEIDER PACKAGING EQUIPMENTBrownfields · 1700 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #8537Brownfields · 1800 ft
- THEISEN MARINE SALES, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- ESS-KAY YARDS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CIRCLE K #7623Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- MATT MCGILL BODY SHOPBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- ADESA SYRACUSEBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- SUNNY LANE MOBILE HOME PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- OCDWEP - BREWERTON WWTPBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- NICE N EASY #7623Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Brewerton'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 Brewerton.
Total Sites
804
within ~10 miles of Brewerton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Brewerton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Brewerton
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Brewerton
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 Brewerton average
Your land is one point inside Brewerton
Everything above resolves to Brewerton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Brewerton Average
Brewerton Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Brewerton
- ●One soil character for all of Brewerton
- ●Frost dates read at Brewerton's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Brewerton's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Brewerton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Brewerton, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Brewerton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Brewerton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Brewerton average
How we know this about Brewerton
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 Brewerton’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 Brewerton
When does frost risk typically end in Brewerton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Brewerton typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Brewerton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Brewerton typically arrives around Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 16, so the watching starts about Sep 30 — about 197 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Brewerton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Brewerton sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 16, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Brewerton?
The federal record around Brewerton is a meaningful one — 804 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (391), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Brewerton?
From about Sep 30 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Brewerton's scale — its 5b band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Brewerton'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 Brewerton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Brewerton's own scale — its own ~197-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,026 acres it covers and 804 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Brewerton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Brewerton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 30 and the ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 804 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Brewerton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Brewerton's boundary and the 2,026 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~197-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Brewerton's own centroid, the Eastern Great Lakes LowlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Brewertonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Brewerton's 2,026 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Onondaga County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Onondaga 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 Onondaga County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Brewerton's 2,026 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Brewerton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,026 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Brewerton-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkBrewerton sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides