Delhi, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Delhi, 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 Delhi 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 Delhi — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Delhi — the short answer
Delhi, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 141 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~141
- 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 Delhi's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Delhi's 141-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Delhi
Each reading below is measured for Delhi itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDelhi runs about 141 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredDelhi 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 Delhi is in
Delhi sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Delhi's own centroid rather than borrowed from Delaware County.
What Grows in Delhi
Every plant below cleared Delhi's own zone 5b and its 141-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Delhi?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
Documented around Delhi
Spotted lanternfly documented 24 miles from Delhi, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Delhi
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Delhi. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DELAWARE COUNTY OFFICE BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- DELAWARE COUNTY COURT HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- US POSTAL SERVICE (CT ST,DELHIUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- DELHI MOTOR CO., INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- MIRABITO # 27Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- CORYDON B. RICHUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- DELAWARE COUNTY D P WBrownfields · 900 ft
- HENNESS SALES & SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- EXPRESS MART NO. 359Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- DELHI COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- LAKE DELAWARE FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- TRACTOR SUPPLY CO #1390Brownfields · 1000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Delhi'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 Delhi.
Total Sites
105
within ~10 miles of Delhi
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Delhi
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Delhi
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Delhi
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 Delhi average
Your land is one point inside Delhi
Everything above resolves to Delhi 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 Delhi Average
Delhi Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Delhi
- ●One soil character for all of Delhi
- ●Frost dates read at Delhi's scale: May 17 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Delhi's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Delhi
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Delhi, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Delhi averages can't show:
We read public map data around Delhi — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Delhi average
How we know this about Delhi
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 Delhi’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 Delhi
When does frost risk typically end in Delhi?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Delhi typically lands around May 17, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Delhi?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Delhi typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 141 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Delhi?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Delhi sees about 141 frost-free days — roughly May 17 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 7 to Sep 21, about 106 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Delhi?
The federal record around Delhi shows 105 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (60), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Delhi?
With about 141 frost-free days between hard freezes, Delhi rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 169 to 197 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 17 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Delhi's scale — its 5b band and its 141-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Delhi'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 Delhi’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Delhi's own scale — its own ~141-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,033 acres it covers and 105 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Delhi's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Delhi's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 17 and Oct 5 and the ~141-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 105 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Delhi, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Delhi's boundary and the 2,033 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~141-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Delhi's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Delhilydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Delhi's 2,033 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Delaware County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Delaware 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 Delaware County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Delhi's 2,033 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Delhi you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,033 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Delhi-wide figureread your own land →
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