Fort Ann, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fort Ann, 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 Fort Ann 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 Fort Ann — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fort Ann — the short answer
Fort Ann, New York: USDA zone 5a, about 182 days between hard freezes, across 183 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- 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
- ~182
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 183 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 5a is Fort Ann's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fort Ann's 182-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fort Ann
Each reading below is measured for Fort Ann itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFort Ann runs about 182 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
MeasuredFort Ann sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Fort Ann is in
Fort Ann sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Fort Ann's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Washington County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Fort Ann
Every plant below cleared Fort Ann's own zone 5a and its 182-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fort Ann?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (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 Fort Ann
Spotted lanternfly documented 10 miles from Fort Ann, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Fort Ann
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fort Ann. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- APARTMENT BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3143Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3143Brownfields · 850 ft
- NORTHERN CROSS CONVEYOR CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- PAIGE'S SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- AGWAY ENERGY PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- W 529Nitrate · 1800 ft
- FORT ANN CENTRAL SCHOOLBrownfields · 1900 ft
- FORT ANN CENTRAL SCHOOL DIST.Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- FT ANN SERVICE CENTER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BUILDING NO. 204Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- WALKER FARMS LLCCAFO · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fort Ann'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 Fort Ann.
Total Sites
249
within ~10 miles of Fort Ann
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fort Ann
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fort Ann
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fort Ann, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Fort Ann — CAFO (12 sites) and Superfund (5 sites). 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.
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 Fort Ann
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 Fort Ann average
Your land is one point inside Fort Ann
Everything above resolves to Fort Ann as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 183 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 Fort Ann Average
Fort Ann Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Fort Ann
- ●One soil character for all of Fort Ann
- ●Frost dates read at Fort Ann's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fort Ann's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fort Ann
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fort Ann, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fort Ann averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fort Ann — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fort Ann average
How we know this about Fort Ann
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 Fort Ann’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 Fort Ann
When does frost risk typically end in Fort Ann?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fort Ann typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Fort Ann?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fort Ann 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 182 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fort Ann?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fort Ann sees about 182 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 6, about 147 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fort Ann?
The federal record around Fort Ann is a meaningful one — 249 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (105), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Fort Ann?
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 Fort Ann's scale — its 5a band and its 182-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fort Ann'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 Fort Ann’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Fort Ann's own scale — its own ~182-day season between 28°F freezes, the 183 acres it covers and 249 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fort Ann's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fort Ann's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 20 and the ~182-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 249 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fort Ann, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fort Ann's boundary and the 183 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~182-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Fort Ann sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Fort Annlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fort Ann's 183 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington 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 Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fort Ann's 183 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fort Ann you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 183 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Fort Ann-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkFort Ann sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides