Johnson City, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Johnson City, 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 Johnson City 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 Johnson City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Johnson City — the short answer
Johnson City, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Johnson City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Johnson City's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Johnson City
Each reading below is measured for Johnson City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredJohnson City runs about 175 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
MeasuredJohnson City 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 Johnson City is in
Johnson City sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Johnson City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Broome County.
What Grows in Johnson City
Every plant below cleared Johnson City's own zone 6a and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Johnson City?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — 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 Johnson City
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Johnson City, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Johnson City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Johnson City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PETCO STORE 2781Brownfields · 1000 ft
- JOHN SMEY'S TUNE & TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- JAY'S ONE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CALVARY CEMETERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #2414Brownfields · 1900 ft
- KWIK-FILL #A0034-027Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- BJ'S WHOLESALE CLUB #232Brownfields · 2300 ft
- LECASA, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- NYSDOT BIN 1063229Brownfields · 2400 ft
- NYSDOT BIN 1063189Brownfields · 2400 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #0239Brownfields · 2600 ft
- JOHNSON CITY OUBLIC WORKS DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Johnson City'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 Johnson City.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Johnson City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Johnson City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Johnson City, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 15 sites within ~10 miles of Johnson City. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Johnson City
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 Johnson City average
Your land is one point inside Johnson City
Everything above resolves to Johnson City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Johnson City Average
Johnson City Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Johnson City
- ●One soil character for all of Johnson City
- ●Frost dates read at Johnson City's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Johnson City's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Johnson City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Johnson City, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Johnson City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Johnson City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Johnson City average
How we know this about Johnson City
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 Johnson City’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 Johnson City
When does frost risk typically end in Johnson City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Johnson City typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Johnson City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Johnson City typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Johnson City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Johnson City sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Oct 6, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Johnson City?
The federal record around Johnson City runs heavier than most — 1,000 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (480), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Johnson City?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Johnson City's scale — its 6a band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Johnson City'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 Johnson City’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Johnson City's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,913 acres it covers and 1,000 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Johnson City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Johnson City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 20 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,000 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Johnson City, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Johnson City's boundary and the 2,913 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Johnson City's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Johnson Citylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Johnson City's 2,913 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Broome County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Broome 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 Broome County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Johnson City's 2,913 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Johnson City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,913 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 Johnson City-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkJohnson City sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides