Hudson Falls, 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 Hudson Falls, 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 Hudson Falls 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 Hudson Falls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hudson Falls — the short answer
Hudson Falls, New York: USDA zone 5a, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 1K 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 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- 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 5a is Hudson Falls's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hudson Falls's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hudson Falls
Each reading below is measured for Hudson Falls itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHudson Falls runs about 180 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
MeasuredHudson Falls 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 Hudson Falls is in
Hudson Falls sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hudson Falls's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Washington County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Hudson Falls
Every plant below cleared Hudson Falls's own zone 5a and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hudson Falls?
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 19 — 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 Hudson Falls
Spotted lanternfly documented 4 miles from Hudson Falls, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Hudson Falls
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hudson Falls. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALL AMERICAN AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- CREAMY DELIGHTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- MONAHAN & LOUGHLINBrownfields · 1100 ft
- W 109Nitrate · 1700 ft
- JAMES MCKINNEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- PRECISE PAINTING INCBrownfields · 1900 ft
- VILLAGE OF HUDSON FALLS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- GRIFFIN ENGINEERING & SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- STEWART'S SHOPS #223Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3129Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3129Brownfields · 2100 ft
- DBA RITE AID #10719Brownfields · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hudson Falls'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 Hudson Falls.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hudson Falls
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hudson Falls
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hudson Falls, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hudson Falls — CAFO (15 sites) and Superfund (11 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 Hudson Falls
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 Hudson Falls average
Your land is one point inside Hudson Falls
Everything above resolves to Hudson Falls 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 Hudson Falls Average
Hudson Falls Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Hudson Falls
- ●One soil character for all of Hudson Falls
- ●Frost dates read at Hudson Falls's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hudson Falls's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hudson Falls
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hudson Falls, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hudson Falls averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hudson Falls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hudson Falls average
How we know this about Hudson Falls
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 Hudson Falls’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 Hudson Falls
When does frost risk typically end in Hudson Falls?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hudson Falls 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 Hudson Falls?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hudson Falls typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hudson Falls?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hudson Falls sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 5, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hudson Falls?
The federal record around Hudson Falls is a meaningful one — 542 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (260), 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 Hudson Falls?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hudson Falls's scale — its 5a band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hudson Falls'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 Hudson Falls’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Hudson Falls's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,191 acres it covers and 542 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hudson Falls's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hudson Falls's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 19 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 542 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hudson Falls, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hudson Falls's boundary and the 1,191 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Hudson Falls 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 Hudson Fallslydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hudson Falls's 1,191 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington 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 Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hudson Falls's 1,191 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hudson Falls you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,191 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 Hudson Falls-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkHudson Falls sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides