Geneseo, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Geneseo, 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 Geneseo 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 Geneseo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Geneseo — the short answer
Geneseo, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- 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 6a is Geneseo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Geneseo's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Geneseo
Each reading below is measured for Geneseo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGeneseo runs about 186 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
MeasuredGeneseo sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Geneseo is in
Geneseo sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Geneseo's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Livingston County is mostly Northern Allegheny Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Geneseo
Every plant below cleared Geneseo's own zone 6a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Geneseo?
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 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Geneseo
Spotted lanternfly documented 25 miles from Geneseo, first recorded 2018. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Geneseo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Geneseo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GENESEO CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- NYS ARMORYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- NYS ARMORY - FMS #3 FORMERLYBrownfields · 1500 ft
- LIVINGSTON COUNTY JAILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- NYS DOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- NYS DOT FACILITY (FORMER)Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- BUELL ENTERPRISES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- JIMMY'S SALES AND SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- HARRIS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- ONE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- 7-ELEVEN INC #35124Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- SUGAR CREEK #197Brownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Geneseo'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 Geneseo.
Total Sites
310
within ~10 miles of Geneseo
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Geneseo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Geneseo
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Geneseo, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Geneseo — CAFO (39 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Geneseo
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 Geneseo average
Your land is one point inside Geneseo
Everything above resolves to Geneseo 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 Geneseo Average
Geneseo Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Geneseo
- ●One soil character for all of Geneseo
- ●Frost dates read at Geneseo's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Geneseo's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Geneseo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Geneseo, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Geneseo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Geneseo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Geneseo average
How we know this about Geneseo
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 Geneseo’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 Geneseo
When does frost risk typically end in Geneseo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Geneseo typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Geneseo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Geneseo typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Geneseo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Geneseo sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 12, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Geneseo?
The federal record around Geneseo is a meaningful one — 310 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (150), 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 Geneseo?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Geneseo's scale — its 6a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Geneseo'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 Geneseo’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Geneseo's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,823 acres it covers and 310 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Geneseo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Geneseo's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 26 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 310 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Geneseo, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Geneseo's boundary and the 1,823 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Geneseo 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 Geneseolydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Geneseo's 1,823 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Livingston County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Livingston 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 Livingston County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Geneseo's 1,823 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Geneseo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,823 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 Geneseo-wide figureread your own land →
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