Fort Edward, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Fort Edward, 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 Edward 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 Edward — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fort Edward — the short answer
Fort Edward, New York: USDA zone 5a, about 184 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~184
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Edward's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fort Edward's 184-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fort Edward
Each reading below is measured for Fort Edward itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFort Edward runs about 184 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 Edward 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 Edward is in
Fort Edward sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Fort Edward'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 Edward
Every plant below cleared Fort Edward's own zone 5a and its 184-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fort Edward?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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 Edward
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Fort Edward, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Fort Edward
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fort Edward. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- U.S. POSTAL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- STEWART'S SHOP 215Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- NIAGARA MOHAWK A NATIONAL GRID COBrownfields · 950 ft
- FORT EDWARD MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- WASTE MANAGEMENT OF NY, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MR. FRANK M. PASSAROUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- MCDONALD OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- PALLETS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- NYS CANAL CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- IRVING TISSUE, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3170Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- VILLAGE OF FORT EDWARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fort Edward'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 Edward.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fort Edward
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fort Edward
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fort Edward, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Fort Edward — CAFO (21 sites) and Superfund (12 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 Edward
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 Edward average
Your land is one point inside Fort Edward
Everything above resolves to Fort Edward as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Edward Average
Fort Edward Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Fort Edward
- ●One soil character for all of Fort Edward
- ●Frost dates read at Fort Edward's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fort Edward's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fort Edward
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fort Edward, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fort Edward averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fort Edward — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fort Edward average
How we know this about Fort Edward
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 Edward’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 Edward
When does frost risk typically end in Fort Edward?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fort Edward typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Fort Edward?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fort Edward typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 184 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fort Edward?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fort Edward sees about 184 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 7, about 149 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fort Edward?
The federal record around Fort Edward is a meaningful one — 542 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (253), 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 Edward?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fort Edward's scale — its 5a band and its 184-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fort Edward'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 Edward’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Fort Edward's own scale — its own ~184-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,128 acres it covers and 542 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fort Edward's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fort Edward's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 21 and the ~184-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 542 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fort Edward, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fort Edward's boundary and the 1,128 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~184-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Fort Edward 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 Edwardlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fort Edward's 1,128 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 Edward's 1,128 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fort Edward you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,128 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 Edward-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkFort Edward sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides