Hadley, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hadley, 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 Hadley 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 Hadley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hadley — the short answer
Hadley, New York: USDA zone 5a, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 931 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 931 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 Hadley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hadley's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hadley
Each reading below is measured for Hadley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHadley runs about 183 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
MeasuredHadley 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 Hadley is in
Hadley sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Hadley'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 Hadley
Every plant below cleared Hadley's own zone 5a and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hadley?
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 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Hadley
Spotted lanternfly documented 10 miles from Hadley, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Hadley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hadley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JOSEPH W. WHITE TRUCKING, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- BROOKFIELD RENEWABLE POWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- TOWN OF HADLEY HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- HADLEY GENERAL STORESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- HADLEY LINE GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- WARREN COUNTY CR 44 BRIDGE BIN 3305530Brownfields · 2100 ft
- TONY'S GARAGE (SUNOCO)/CIRILLO AUTO SERVICES, INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- WR 75Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3180Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ARMSTRONGS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- STEWART'S SHOP #336Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3180Brownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hadley'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 Hadley.
Total Sites
236
within ~10 miles of Hadley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hadley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hadley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hadley, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Hadley. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Hadley
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 Hadley average
Your land is one point inside Hadley
Everything above resolves to Hadley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 931 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 Hadley Average
Hadley Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Hadley
- ●One soil character for all of Hadley
- ●Frost dates read at Hadley's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hadley's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hadley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hadley, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hadley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hadley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hadley average
How we know this about Hadley
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 Hadley’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 Hadley
When does frost risk typically end in Hadley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hadley typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Hadley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hadley typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hadley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hadley sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 8, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hadley?
The federal record around Hadley is a meaningful one — 236 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (144), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Hadley?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hadley's scale — its 5a band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hadley'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 Hadley’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Hadley's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 931 acres it covers and 236 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hadley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hadley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 22 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 236 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hadley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hadley's boundary and the 931 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Hadley sits in the Northeastern Highlands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Hadleylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hadley's 931 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 Hadley's 931 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hadley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 931 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Hadley-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkHadley sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides