Poland, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Poland, 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 Poland 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 Poland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Poland — the short answer
Poland, New York: USDA zone 5a, about 177 days between hard freezes, across 348 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- 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 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~177
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 348 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 5a is Poland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Poland's 177-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Poland
Each reading below is measured for Poland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPoland runs about 177 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
MeasuredPoland sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Poland is in
Poland sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Poland's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Herkimer County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Poland
Every plant below cleared Poland's own zone 5a and its 177-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Poland?
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 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 20 — 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 Poland
Survey cells within 31 miles of Poland checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 42 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Poland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Poland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RUSSIA(T) HIGHWAY DEPT.Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- PERFEX CORPBrownfields · 350 ft
- POLAND UNION ASBESTOSSuperfund · 400 ft
- PERFEX CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- STEWART'S SHOP #175Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- POLAND REALTY, LLC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- POLAND CENTRAL SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- B W E ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES LLCBrownfields · 1800 ft
- KUYAHOORA OUTDOOR CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- BRAD WEAKLEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- FORMER SCHULTZ'S GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- HE 624Nitrate · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Poland'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 Poland.
Total Sites
169
within ~10 miles of Poland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Poland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Poland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Poland, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Poland — Superfund (3 sites) and Nitrate (46 sites). 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Poland
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 Poland average
Your land is one point inside Poland
Everything above resolves to Poland as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 348 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 Poland Average
Poland Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Poland
- ●One soil character for all of Poland
- ●Frost dates read at Poland's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Poland's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Poland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Poland, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Poland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Poland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Poland average
How we know this about Poland
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 Poland’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 Poland
When does frost risk typically end in Poland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Poland 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 Poland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Poland 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 177 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Poland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Poland sees about 177 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 6, about 142 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Poland?
The federal record around Poland is a meaningful one — 169 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (88), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Poland?
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 Poland's scale — its 5a band and its 177-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Poland'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 Poland’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Poland's own scale — its own ~177-day season between 28°F freezes, the 348 acres it covers and 169 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Poland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Poland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 20 and the ~177-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 169 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Poland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Poland's boundary and the 348 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~177-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Poland sits in the Eastern Great Lakes Lowlands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Poland checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Poland's 348 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 Poland's 348 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Poland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 348 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Poland-wide figureread your own land →
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