Castile, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Castile, 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 Castile 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 Castile — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Castile — the short answer
Castile, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 873 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 873 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 Castile's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Castile's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Castile
Each reading below is measured for Castile itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCastile runs about 180 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
MeasuredCastile 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 Castile is in
Castile sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Castile's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wyoming County.
What Grows in Castile
Every plant below cleared Castile's own zone 6a and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Castile?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around Castile
Spotted lanternfly documented 30 miles from Castile, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Castile
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Castile. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROB'S CASTILE SUNOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- NYS LETCHWORTH STATE PARKBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- TOWN OF CASTILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- KITTINGER COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- VILLAGE OF CASTILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CROSBY'S - CASTILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- PANKOW FARMCAFO · 1.0 mi
- NYSDEC - ROBESON INDUSTRIES SITE - 961008Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- EGTS- BARBER ROAD MEASURING & REGULATING STATIONBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- WO 41Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- TABLE ROCK FARM INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- TABLE ROCK FARM, INC.CAFO · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Castile'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 Castile.
Total Sites
194
within ~10 miles of Castile
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Castile
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Castile
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Castile, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 36 sites within ~10 miles of Castile. 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 Castile
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 Castile average
Your land is one point inside Castile
Everything above resolves to Castile as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 873 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 Castile Average
Castile Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Castile
- ●One soil character for all of Castile
- ●Frost dates read at Castile's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Castile's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Castile
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Castile, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Castile averages can't show:
We read public map data around Castile — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Castile average
How we know this about Castile
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 Castile’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 Castile
When does frost risk typically end in Castile?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Castile typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Castile?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Castile typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Castile?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Castile sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Oct 10, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Castile?
The federal record around Castile is a meaningful one — 194 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (87), 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 Castile?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Castile's scale — its 6a band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Castile'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 Castile’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Castile's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 873 acres it covers and 194 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Castile's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Castile's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 24 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 194 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Castile, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Castile's boundary and the 873 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Castile's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Castilelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Castile's 873 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wyoming County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wyoming 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 Wyoming County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Castile's 873 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Castile you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 873 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 Castile-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkCastile sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides