Herkimer, 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 Herkimer, 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 Herkimer 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 Herkimer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Herkimer — the short answer
Herkimer, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- 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 5b is Herkimer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Herkimer's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Herkimer
Each reading below is measured for Herkimer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHerkimer runs about 189 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
MeasuredHerkimer 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 Herkimer is in
Herkimer sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Herkimer's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Herkimer County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Herkimer
Every plant below cleared Herkimer's own zone 5b and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Herkimer?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — 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 Herkimer
Spotted lanternfly documented 29 miles from Herkimer, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Herkimer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Herkimer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CASTLE APARTMENTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- PROFESSIONAL ARTS BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FENNER FUNERAL HOME, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- HM QUACKENBUSH INCToxics Release Inventory · 1200 ft
- HM QUACKENBUSH INCBrownfields · 1200 ft
- HM QUACKENBUSH INCSuperfund · 1200 ft
- HERKIMER COUNTY OFFICE BLDG.Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- HERKIMER COUNTY CORRECTIONAL FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CALE DEVELOPMENT CO., INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- GENERAL HERKIMER HOTELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- F.E. HALE MFG. CO. INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- H.M. QUACKENBUSH INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Herkimer'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 Herkimer.
Total Sites
336
within ~10 miles of Herkimer
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Herkimer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Herkimer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Herkimer, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Herkimer — Superfund (10 sites) and CAFO (6 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Herkimer
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 Herkimer average
Your land is one point inside Herkimer
Everything above resolves to Herkimer 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 Herkimer Average
Herkimer Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Herkimer
- ●One soil character for all of Herkimer
- ●Frost dates read at Herkimer's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Herkimer's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Herkimer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Herkimer, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Herkimer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Herkimer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Herkimer average
How we know this about Herkimer
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 Herkimer’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 Herkimer
When does frost risk typically end in Herkimer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Herkimer typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Herkimer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Herkimer typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Herkimer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Herkimer sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 11, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Herkimer?
The federal record around Herkimer is a meaningful one — 336 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (185), 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 Herkimer?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Herkimer's scale — its 5b band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Herkimer'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 Herkimer’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Herkimer's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,656 acres it covers and 336 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Herkimer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Herkimer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 25 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 336 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Herkimer, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Herkimer's boundary and the 1,656 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Herkimer 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 Herkimerlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Herkimer's 1,656 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Herkimer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Herkimer 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 Herkimer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Herkimer's 1,656 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Herkimer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,656 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 Herkimer-wide figureread your own land →
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