Ghent, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Ghent, 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 Ghent 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 Ghent — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ghent — the short answer
Ghent, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- 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 6a is Ghent's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ghent's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ghent
Each reading below is measured for Ghent itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGhent runs about 188 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
MeasuredGhent 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 Ghent is in
Ghent sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ghent's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Columbia County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Ghent
Every plant below cleared Ghent's own zone 6a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ghent?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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 Ghent
Spotted lanternfly documented 11 miles from Ghent, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Ghent
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ghent. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HELEOTIS PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- GARDINA BROS. EXCAVATING INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- TOWN OF GHENT HIGHWAY DEPT.Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- GHENT HIGHWAY OUTPOST- D P WUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- GHENT XTRA MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CB1064Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- AGWAY ENERGY PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- PRICE CHOPPERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- CB1073Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- HIGH POINTE AT CHATHAMUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- NYS ELECTRIC & GAS-CHATHAM SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORE #2358Brownfields · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ghent'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 Ghent.
Total Sites
292
within ~10 miles of Ghent
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ghent
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ghent
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ghent, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ghent — CAFO (10 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 Ghent
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 Ghent average
Your land is one point inside Ghent
Everything above resolves to Ghent 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 Ghent Average
Ghent Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Ghent
- ●One soil character for all of Ghent
- ●Frost dates read at Ghent's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ghent's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ghent
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ghent, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ghent averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ghent — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ghent average
How we know this about Ghent
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 Ghent’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 Ghent
When does frost risk typically end in Ghent?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ghent typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Ghent?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ghent typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ghent?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ghent sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 9, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ghent?
The federal record around Ghent is a meaningful one — 292 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (164), 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 Ghent?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ghent's scale — its 6a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ghent'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 Ghent’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Ghent's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,040 acres it covers and 292 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ghent's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ghent's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 23 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 292 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ghent, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ghent's boundary and the 1,040 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Ghent 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 Ghentlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ghent's 1,040 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Columbia County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Columbia 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 Columbia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ghent's 1,040 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ghent you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,040 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 Ghent-wide figureread your own land →
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