Hartwick Seminary, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Hartwick Seminary, 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 Hartwick Seminary 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 Hartwick Seminary — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hartwick Seminary — the short answer
Hartwick Seminary, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 168 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~168
- 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 5b is Hartwick Seminary's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hartwick Seminary's 168-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hartwick Seminary
Each reading below is measured for Hartwick Seminary itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHartwick Seminary runs about 168 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
MeasuredHartwick Seminary 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 Hartwick Seminary is in
Hartwick Seminary sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hartwick Seminary's own centroid rather than borrowed from Otsego County.
What Grows in Hartwick Seminary
Every plant below cleared Hartwick Seminary's own zone 5b and its 168-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hartwick Seminary?
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 Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — 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 Hartwick Seminary
Spotted lanternfly documented 6 miles from Hartwick Seminary, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Hartwick Seminary
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hartwick Seminary. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORE 2291Brownfields · 1100 ft
- OLD GAS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- OTSEGO COUNTY PUBLIC SAFETY BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- COOPERSTOWN HOLSTEIN CORP.Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- APPLE MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- COOPERSTOWN HOLSTEIN CORPCAFO · 2600 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #14993Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- MEADOWS (OTSEGO COUNTY INFIRMARY)Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HARTWICK SEMINARY SPECIALTY SERVICES - BASSETTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- COOPERSTOWN CENTER FOR REHAB & NURSINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- IRENE R. UTTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- BROOKWOOD SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hartwick Seminary'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 Hartwick Seminary.
Total Sites
126
within ~10 miles of Hartwick Seminary
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hartwick Seminary
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hartwick Seminary
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hartwick Seminary, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hartwick Seminary — CAFO (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (92 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.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Hartwick Seminary
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 Hartwick Seminary average
Your land is one point inside Hartwick Seminary
Everything above resolves to Hartwick Seminary 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 Hartwick Seminary Average
Hartwick Seminary Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Hartwick Seminary
- ●One soil character for all of Hartwick Seminary
- ●Frost dates read at Hartwick Seminary's scale: May 2 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hartwick Seminary's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hartwick Seminary
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hartwick Seminary, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hartwick Seminary averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hartwick Seminary — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hartwick Seminary average
How we know this about Hartwick Seminary
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 Hartwick Seminary’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 Hartwick Seminary
When does frost risk typically end in Hartwick Seminary?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hartwick Seminary typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Hartwick Seminary?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hartwick Seminary typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 168 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hartwick Seminary?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hartwick Seminary sees about 168 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Oct 3, about 133 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hartwick Seminary?
The federal record around Hartwick Seminary shows 126 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (92), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Hartwick Seminary?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hartwick Seminary's scale — its 5b band and its 168-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hartwick Seminary'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 Hartwick Seminary’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Hartwick Seminary's own scale — its own ~168-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,256 acres it covers and 126 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hartwick Seminary's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hartwick Seminary's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 17 and the ~168-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 126 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hartwick Seminary, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hartwick Seminary's boundary and the 1,256 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~168-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hartwick Seminary's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Hartwick Seminarylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hartwick Seminary's 1,256 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Otsego County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Otsego 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 Otsego County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hartwick Seminary's 1,256 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hartwick Seminary you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,256 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Hartwick Seminary-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Growing region
Nearby growing guides