Millerton, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Millerton, 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 Millerton 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 Millerton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Millerton — the short answer
Millerton, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 394 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 394 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 Millerton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Millerton's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Millerton
Each reading below is measured for Millerton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMillerton 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
MeasuredMillerton 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 Millerton is in
Millerton sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Millerton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dutchess County.
What Grows in Millerton
Every plant below cleared Millerton'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 Millerton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Millerton
Spotted lanternfly documented 17 miles from Millerton, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Millerton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Millerton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DUTCHESS COUNTY BRIDGE N-60RTBrownfields · 750 ft
- ARNOFF MOVING & STORAGEBrownfields · 900 ft
- MARPODCO INC DBA DUTCHESS OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- MILLERTON GASOLINE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- KEUFFEL & ESSER CO TACONIC PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1100 ft
- AZON CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- WKHL PROPERTIES LLCBrownfields · 1300 ft
- WKHL PROPERTIES LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- GRJH INCBrownfields · 1500 ft
- DU 167Nitrate · 1600 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3119Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- HIPOTRONICS, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Millerton'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 Millerton.
Total Sites
247
within ~10 miles of Millerton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Millerton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Millerton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Millerton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Millerton — CAFO (3 sites) and Nitrate (72 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Millerton
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 Millerton average
Your land is one point inside Millerton
Everything above resolves to Millerton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 394 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 Millerton Average
Millerton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Millerton
- ●One soil character for all of Millerton
- ●Frost dates read at Millerton's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Millerton's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Millerton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Millerton, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Millerton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Millerton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Millerton average
How we know this about Millerton
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 Millerton’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 Millerton
When does frost risk typically end in Millerton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Millerton typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Millerton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Millerton typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Millerton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Millerton sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 4, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Millerton?
The federal record around Millerton is a meaningful one — 247 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (112), the nearest Brownfields 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 Millerton?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Millerton's scale — its 6a band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Millerton'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 Millerton’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Millerton's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 394 acres it covers and 247 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Millerton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Millerton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 18 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 247 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Millerton, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Millerton's boundary and the 394 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 Millerton's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Millertonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Millerton's 394 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dutchess County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dutchess 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 Dutchess County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Millerton's 394 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Millerton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 394 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Millerton-wide figureread your own land →
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