Downsville, 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.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Downsville, 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 Downsville 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 Downsville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Downsville — the short answer
Downsville, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Downsville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Downsville's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Downsville
Each reading below is measured for Downsville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDownsville runs about 161 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
MeasuredDownsville 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 Downsville is in
Downsville sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Downsville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Delaware County.
What Grows in Downsville
Every plant below cleared Downsville's own zone 5b and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Downsville?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — 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 Downsville
Spotted lanternfly documented 16 miles from Downsville, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Downsville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Downsville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARMSTRONG'S SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- S & D GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- B G FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- CATSKILL COUNTRY MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- DOWNSVILLE COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- DOWNSVILLE CENTRAL SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- COLCHESTER TOWN HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- NYCDEP DOWNSVILLE SHOP COMPLEXBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 1020780Brownfields · 1.6 mi
- NYCDEP EAST DELAWARE INTAKE CHAMBERBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- EAST DELAWARE RELEASE CHAMBERBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- DELAWARE CO DPW BRIDGE #5 BIN 3352060Brownfields · 3.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Downsville'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 Downsville.
Total Sites
93
within ~10 miles of Downsville
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Downsville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Downsville
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 Downsville
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 Downsville average
Your land is one point inside Downsville
Everything above resolves to Downsville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Downsville Average
Downsville Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Downsville
- ●One soil character for all of Downsville
- ●Frost dates read at Downsville's scale: May 5 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Downsville's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Downsville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Downsville, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Downsville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Downsville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Downsville average
How we know this about Downsville
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 Downsville’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 Downsville
When does frost risk typically end in Downsville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Downsville typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Downsville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Downsville typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Downsville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Downsville sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 29, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Downsville?
The federal record around Downsville shows 93 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (44), 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 I protect my plants from frost in Downsville?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Downsville's scale — its 5b band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Downsville'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 Downsville’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Downsville's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,811 acres it covers and 93 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Downsville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Downsville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 13 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 93 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Downsville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Downsville's boundary and the 2,811 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Downsville's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Downsvillelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Downsville's 2,811 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 Downsville's 2,811 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Downsville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,811 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 Downsville-wide figureread your own land →
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