Old Forge, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Old Forge, 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 Old Forge 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 Old Forge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Old Forge — the short answer
Old Forge, New York: USDA zone 4a, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- 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 4a is Old Forge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Old Forge's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Old Forge
Each reading below is measured for Old Forge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOld Forge runs about 151 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
MeasuredOld Forge sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Old Forge is in
Old Forge sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Old Forge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Herkimer County.
What Grows in Old Forge
Every plant below cleared Old Forge's own zone 4a and its 151-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Old Forge?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Old Forge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Old Forge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- OLD FORGE HARDWAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- OLD FORGE FIRE DEPT.Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- ST. BARTHOLOMEW CHURCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- WEBB(T) DPW GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- JONES' COTTAGESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- WEBB(T) SNOWMOBILE GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- MOUNTAIN STOP, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- KINNEY DRUGS STORE #57Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- FASTRAC 226Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- WEBB(T) SEWAGE TREAT. PLT.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FASTRAC MARKET #226Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 7715320Brownfields · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Old Forge'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 Old Forge.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Old Forge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Old Forge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Old Forge, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Old Forge. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Old Forge
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 Old Forge average
Your land is one point inside Old Forge
Everything above resolves to Old Forge 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 Old Forge Average
Old Forge Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Old Forge
- ●One soil character for all of Old Forge
- ●Frost dates read at Old Forge's scale: May 11 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Old Forge's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Old Forge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Old Forge, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Old Forge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Old Forge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Old Forge average
How we know this about Old Forge
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 Old Forge’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 Old Forge
When does frost risk typically end in Old Forge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Old Forge typically lands around May 11, 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 Jun 1.
When is the first frost in Old Forge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Old Forge typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Old Forge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Old Forge sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 25, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Old Forge?
The federal record around Old Forge shows 100 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (49), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Old Forge?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Old Forge's scale — its 4a band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Old Forge'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 Old Forge’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Old Forge's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,143 acres it covers and 100 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Old Forge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Old Forge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Oct 9 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 100 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Old Forge, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Old Forge's boundary and the 1,143 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Old Forge's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Old Forge's 1,143 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Herkimer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Herkimer 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 Herkimer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Old Forge's 1,143 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Old Forge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,143 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Old Forge-wide figureread your own land →
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