Herkimer County, in New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Herkimer County lies within the Mohawk Valley — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Herkimer County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Herkimer County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Herkimer County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Herkimer County — the short answer
Herkimer County, New York: USDA zone 4a, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 903K acres.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 903K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 4a is Herkimer County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Herkimer County's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
One county, several growing seasons
Herkimer County's hard-freeze record runs about 151 days between freezes — but that is the county-wide average, and several towns inside it carry a markedly different season in their own 30-year record: South Ilion at about 191 days (against the county's ~151).
Those are measured records, not estimates. If you garden in one of these pockets, plant against your own town's season rather than the county's ~151-day average.
NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020), 30-year daily minimum record. Only held-out towns carrying their own record are named — a town with no record of its own is absent rather than estimated, and a county with nothing qualifying shows no spread at all.
Heat in Herkimer County
Across a year, Herkimer County accumulates about 1,199 growing degree days above 50°F, about 1,037 fewer than the middle New York county — ahead of 1 of New York’s 62 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Herkimer County
Across Herkimer County, the ground is predominantly Spodosols, where Becket, Tunbridge, and Skerry are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.2–6.2, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Spodosols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
9%
Hydric soils
12%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Herkimer County
The USDA soil survey maps 51% of Herkimer County as well drained — but another 45% drains differently: 19% moderately well drained, 9% somewhat poorly drained.
Becket is the most extensive named soil at 9% of mapped acres, then Tunbridge (8%) and Skerry (7%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Herkimer County
Each reading below is measured for Herkimer County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Herkimer County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Herkimer County runs about pH 4.2–6.2, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredHerkimer County runs about 151 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
MeasuredHerkimer County sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Herkimer County is in
Herkimer County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Northeastern Highlands (64%) and Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands (36%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Herkimer County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Herkimer County's own USDA zone 4a and its own 151-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's New York profile.
Is it too late to plant in Herkimer County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — 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 Herkimer County
- monarch butterfly9 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Herkimer County
USGS estimates 14,752 lb of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s on Herkimer County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor-s (12,156 lb) and Glyphosate (10,584 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Herkimer County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Herkimer County — 604 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 17 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Herkimer County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Herkimer County
Closest first, across Herkimer County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ADIRONDACK LEAGUE CLUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- KOENIG BROTHERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- BONNIE'S COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- HE 628Nitrate · 5.3 mi
- NYSDOT BRIDGE BIN 4423070Brownfields · 6.4 mi
- WEBB(T) LANDFILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.2 mi
- HE 453Nitrate · 9.3 mi
- HE 445Nitrate · 9.3 mi
- HE 452Nitrate · 9.3 mi
- HE 449Nitrate · 9.5 mi
- HE 457Nitrate · 9.5 mi
- HE 450Nitrate · 9.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Herkimer County'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 Herkimer County.
Sources Checked
across Herkimer County
Severity Distribution
across Herkimer County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Herkimer County, two things run higher than the national average across Herkimer County — CAFO (14 sites) and Superfund (17 sites). 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.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Herkimer County
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 Herkimer County average
Your land is one point inside Herkimer County
Everything above resolves to Herkimer County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 903K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Herkimer County Average
Herkimer County Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Herkimer County
- ●One soil character for all of Herkimer County
- ●Frost dates read at Herkimer County's scale: May 11 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Herkimer County's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Herkimer County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Herkimer County, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Herkimer County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Herkimer County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Herkimer County average
How we know this about Herkimer County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Herkimer County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Herkimer County
When does frost risk typically end in Herkimer County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Herkimer County typically lands around May 11, 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 Jun 1.
How long is the growing season in Herkimer County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Herkimer County sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 25, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Herkimer County?
The federal record around Herkimer County is a meaningful one — 604 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (301), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.9 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.
Everything above is measured at Herkimer County's scale — its 4a band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Herkimer County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads New York's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Herkimer County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Herkimer County's own scale — its own ~151-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 604 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Herkimer County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Herkimer County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Herkimer CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 604 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Herkimer County's boundary and the 902,775 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Herkimer County spans, Northeastern Highlands the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Herkimer County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Herkimer County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every New York grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom New York
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Herkimer County — the ~151 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Herkimer County's 902,775 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 604 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Herkimer Countyread your own land →