Galway, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Galway, 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 Galway 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 Galway — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Galway — the short answer
Galway, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 177 days between hard freezes, across 164 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~177
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 164 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 Galway's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Galway's 177-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Galway
Each reading below is measured for Galway itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGalway runs about 177 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
MeasuredGalway 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 Galway is in
Galway sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Galway's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Saratoga County is mostly Northeastern Coastal Zone. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Galway
Every plant below cleared Galway's own zone 5b and its 177-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Galway?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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 Galway
Spotted lanternfly documented 5 miles from Galway, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Galway
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Galway. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GALWAY MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- TOWN OF GALWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- GALWAY CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- GALWAY CSD BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SA2259Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- STEWART'S SHOP #403Underground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- WESTWIND FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- NIAGARA MOHAWK POWER CORP POLE 41Brownfields · 2.9 mi
- STEWART'S SHOP #348Underground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- NIAGARA MOHAWK - CHARLTON SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- COTTAGE FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- ARNOLD HAVEN FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Galway'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 Galway.
Total Sites
332
within ~10 miles of Galway
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
9 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Galway
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Galway
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Galway, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Galway — Superfund (9 sites) and PFAS (4 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Galway
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 Galway average
Your land is one point inside Galway
Everything above resolves to Galway as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 164 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 Galway Average
Galway Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Galway
- ●One soil character for all of Galway
- ●Frost dates read at Galway's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Galway's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Galway
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Galway, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Galway averages can't show:
We read public map data around Galway — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Galway average
How we know this about Galway
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 Galway’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 Galway
When does frost risk typically end in Galway?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Galway typically lands around Apr 25, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Galway?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Galway typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 177 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Galway?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Galway sees about 177 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Oct 5, about 142 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Galway?
The federal record around Galway is a meaningful one — 332 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (166), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Galway?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Galway's scale — its 5b band and its 177-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Galway'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 Galway’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Galway's own scale — its own ~177-day season between 28°F freezes, the 164 acres it covers and 332 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Galway's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Galway's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 19 and the ~177-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 332 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Galway, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Galway's boundary and the 164 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~177-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Galway sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Galwaylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Galway's 164 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Saratoga County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Saratoga 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 Saratoga County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Galway's 164 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Galway you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 164 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 Galway-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkGalway sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides