Constantia, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Constantia, 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 Constantia 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 Constantia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Constantia — the short answer
Constantia, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- 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 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- 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 Constantia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Constantia's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Constantia
Each reading below is measured for Constantia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredConstantia runs about 195 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
MeasuredConstantia 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 Constantia is in
Constantia sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Constantia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Oswego County.
What Grows in Constantia
Every plant below cleared Constantia's own zone 5b and its 195-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Constantia?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 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 Constantia
Spotted lanternfly documented 15 miles from Constantia, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Constantia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Constantia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CIRCLE K #7602Brownfields · 2200 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #6029Brownfields · 2600 ft
- A.A. COLE ELEMENTARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- NICE N EASY #7602Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- NICE N EASY #603Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ONEIDA FISH HATCHERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- TOPER'S AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- BETTYS LUNCHEONETTEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- TOWN OF WEST MONROEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- TOWN OF CONSTANTIA HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- 10 THE PERFECT BODY INC.Brownfields · 3.9 mi
- OW1561Nitrate · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Constantia'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 Constantia.
Total Sites
223
within ~10 miles of Constantia
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Constantia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Constantia
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.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Constantia
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 Constantia average
Your land is one point inside Constantia
Everything above resolves to Constantia 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 Constantia Average
Constantia Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Constantia
- ●One soil character for all of Constantia
- ●Frost dates read at Constantia's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Constantia's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Constantia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Constantia, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Constantia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Constantia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Constantia average
How we know this about Constantia
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 Constantia’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 Constantia
When does frost risk typically end in Constantia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Constantia 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 Constantia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Constantia 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 195 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Constantia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Constantia sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 16, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Constantia?
The federal record around Constantia is a meaningful one — 223 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (117), 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 Constantia?
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 Constantia's scale — its 5b band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Constantia'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 Constantia’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Constantia's own scale — its own ~195-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,940 acres it covers and 223 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Constantia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Constantia's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 30 and the ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 223 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Constantia, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Constantia's boundary and the 1,940 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Constantia's own centroid, the Eastern Great Lakes LowlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Constantialydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Constantia's 1,940 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Oswego County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Oswego 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 Oswego County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Constantia's 1,940 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Constantia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,940 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 Constantia-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkConstantia sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides