Duanesburg, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Duanesburg, 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 Duanesburg 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 Duanesburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Duanesburg — the short answer
Duanesburg, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 179 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~179
- 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 Duanesburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Duanesburg's 179-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Duanesburg
Each reading below is measured for Duanesburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDuanesburg runs about 179 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
MeasuredDuanesburg 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 Duanesburg is in
Duanesburg sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Duanesburg's own centroid rather than borrowed from Schenectady County.
What Grows in Duanesburg
Every plant below cleared Duanesburg's own zone 5b and its 179-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Duanesburg?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — 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 Duanesburg
Spotted lanternfly documented 19 miles from Duanesburg, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Duanesburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Duanesburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COUNTRYSIDE FOOD MART NO.1Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- STEWARTS SHOPS NO. 250Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- PALMIER OIL CO., INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- NEW YORK STATE POLICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- MIKEY MART IIUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- DUANESBURG HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ORA CROSIER RESIDENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- UNION COLLEGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- BOZENKILL FARMSCAFO · 1.9 mi
- DUANESBURG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL & BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- PRIVATE HOMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- HARVEST HOMES, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Duanesburg'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 Duanesburg.
Total Sites
441
within ~10 miles of Duanesburg
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Duanesburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Duanesburg
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Duanesburg, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Duanesburg. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Duanesburg
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 Duanesburg average
Your land is one point inside Duanesburg
Everything above resolves to Duanesburg 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 Duanesburg Average
Duanesburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Duanesburg
- ●One soil character for all of Duanesburg
- ●Frost dates read at Duanesburg's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Duanesburg's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Duanesburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Duanesburg, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Duanesburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around Duanesburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Duanesburg average
How we know this about Duanesburg
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 Duanesburg’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 Duanesburg
When does frost risk typically end in Duanesburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Duanesburg typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Duanesburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Duanesburg typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 179 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Duanesburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Duanesburg sees about 179 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 6, about 144 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Duanesburg?
The federal record around Duanesburg is a meaningful one — 441 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (206), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Duanesburg?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Duanesburg's scale — its 5b band and its 179-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Duanesburg'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 Duanesburg’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Duanesburg's own scale — its own ~179-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,569 acres it covers and 441 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Duanesburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Duanesburg's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 20 and the ~179-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 441 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Duanesburg, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Duanesburg's boundary and the 1,569 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~179-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Duanesburg's own centroid, the Eastern Great Lakes LowlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Duanesburglydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Duanesburg's 1,569 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Schenectady County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Schenectady 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 Schenectady County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Duanesburg's 1,569 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Duanesburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,569 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Duanesburg-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkDuanesburg sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides