Napanoch, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Napanoch, 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 Napanoch 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 Napanoch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Napanoch — the short answer
Napanoch, New York: USDA zone 6b, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 919 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- 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
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 919 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 6b is Napanoch's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Napanoch's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Napanoch
Each reading below is measured for Napanoch itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNapanoch runs about 196 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
MeasuredNapanoch sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Napanoch is in
Napanoch sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Napanoch's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Ulster County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Napanoch
Every plant below cleared Napanoch's own zone 6b and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Napanoch?
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 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (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. 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 Napanoch
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Napanoch, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Napanoch
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Napanoch. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- U1681Nitrate · 2500 ft
- WAWARSING HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- NAPANOCH SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- NAPANOCH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- EASTERN NEW YORK CORRECTIONAL FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- BRUCE G DONOHUE TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #4570Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- NAPONACH PAPER MILLSuperfund · 0.7 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 1027100Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- EASTERN NEW YORK CORRECTIONAL FACILITYBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- U1644Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- WAWARSING SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Napanoch'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 Napanoch.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Napanoch
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Napanoch
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Napanoch, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Napanoch — Nitrate (80 sites) and Superfund (3 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Napanoch
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 Napanoch average
Your land is one point inside Napanoch
Everything above resolves to Napanoch as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 919 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 Napanoch Average
Napanoch Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Napanoch
- ●One soil character for all of Napanoch
- ●Frost dates read at Napanoch's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Napanoch's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Napanoch
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Napanoch, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Napanoch averages can't show:
We read public map data around Napanoch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Napanoch average
How we know this about Napanoch
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 Napanoch’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 Napanoch
When does frost risk typically end in Napanoch?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Napanoch typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Napanoch?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Napanoch 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 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Napanoch?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Napanoch sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 11, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Napanoch?
The federal record around Napanoch is a meaningful one — 217 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (102), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Napanoch?
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 Napanoch's scale — its 6b band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Napanoch'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 Napanoch’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Napanoch's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 919 acres it covers and 217 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Napanoch's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Napanoch's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 25 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 217 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Napanoch, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Napanoch's boundary and the 919 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Napanoch sits in the Ridge and Valley — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Napanochlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Napanoch's 919 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ulster County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ulster 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 Ulster County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Napanoch's 919 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Napanoch you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 919 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Napanoch-wide figureread your own land →