Nassau, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Nassau, 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 Nassau 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 Nassau — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nassau — the short answer
Nassau, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 447 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 447 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 Nassau's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nassau's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nassau
Each reading below is measured for Nassau itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNassau runs about 188 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
MeasuredNassau 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 Nassau is in
Nassau sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Nassau's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rensselaer County.
What Grows in Nassau
Every plant below cleared Nassau's own zone 6a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nassau?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 Nassau
Spotted lanternfly documented 10 miles from Nassau, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Nassau
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nassau. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DONALD P SUTHERLAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBrownfields · 550 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3181Brownfields · 700 ft
- GRAMPY'S LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- JOHN P LIPORACE TRUST, FLORENCE DOGHERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #3181Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- SAIID ENTERPRISES, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- NASSAU MOBIL SERVICE CENTERBrownfields · 750 ft
- JOHNS AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- NIAGARA MOHAWK POWER CORP P. 119-1 AT 10 ALBANY ST. SPILL 2504339Brownfields · 850 ft
- STEWART'S SHOPS # 158Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- MERCEDES LOPEZ RESIDENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- D P SUTHERLAND ELEM SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nassau'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 Nassau.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nassau
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nassau
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nassau, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Nassau — CAFO (6 sites) and Superfund (8 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 Nassau
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 Nassau average
Your land is one point inside Nassau
Everything above resolves to Nassau as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 447 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 Nassau Average
Nassau Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Nassau
- ●One soil character for all of Nassau
- ●Frost dates read at Nassau's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nassau's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nassau
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nassau, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nassau averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nassau — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nassau average
How we know this about Nassau
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 Nassau’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 Nassau
When does frost risk typically end in Nassau?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nassau typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Nassau?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nassau typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nassau?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nassau sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 8, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nassau?
The federal record around Nassau is a meaningful one — 326 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (162), 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 Nassau?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Nassau's scale — its 6a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nassau'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 Nassau’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Nassau's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 447 acres it covers and 326 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nassau's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Nassau's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 22 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 326 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nassau, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nassau's boundary and the 447 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Nassau's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Nassaulydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nassau's 447 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rensselaer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rensselaer 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 Rensselaer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nassau's 447 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nassau you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 447 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 Nassau-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkNassau sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides