Putnam Lake, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Putnam Lake, 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 Putnam Lake 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 Putnam Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Putnam Lake — the short answer
Putnam Lake, New York: USDA zone 6b, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~199
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Putnam Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Putnam Lake's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Putnam Lake
Each reading below is measured for Putnam Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPutnam Lake runs about 199 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
MeasuredPutnam Lake 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 Putnam Lake is in
Putnam Lake sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Putnam Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Putnam County.
What Grows in Putnam Lake
Every plant below cleared Putnam Lake's own zone 6b and its 199-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Putnam Lake?
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 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 29 — 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 Putnam Lake
Spotted lanternfly documented 5 miles from Putnam Lake, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Putnam Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Putnam Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NEW YORK TELEPHONEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- P1200Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- P1199Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- P1198Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- P1202Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- P1201Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- P1203Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- P1204Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- PUTNAM LAKE BARRIERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- BORDERLINE FOOD & BEVERAGE, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- GREEN CHIMNEYS SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- PATTERSON AUTO BODY INCBrownfields · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Putnam Lake'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 Putnam Lake.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Putnam Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Putnam Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Putnam Lake, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 17 sites within ~10 miles of Putnam Lake. 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.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Putnam Lake
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 Putnam Lake average
Your land is one point inside Putnam Lake
Everything above resolves to Putnam Lake as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Putnam Lake Average
Putnam Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Putnam Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Putnam Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Putnam Lake's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Putnam Lake's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Putnam Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Putnam Lake, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Putnam Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Putnam Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Putnam Lake average
How we know this about Putnam Lake
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 Putnam Lake’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 Putnam Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Putnam Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Putnam Lake typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Putnam Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Putnam Lake typically arrives around Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 15, so the watching starts about Sep 29 — about 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Putnam Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Putnam Lake sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 15, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Putnam Lake?
The federal record around Putnam Lake runs heavier than most — 1,076 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (521), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Putnam Lake?
From about Sep 29 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Putnam Lake's scale — its 6b band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Putnam Lake'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 Putnam Lake’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Putnam Lake's own scale — its own ~199-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,914 acres it covers and 1,076 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Putnam Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Putnam Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 29 and the ~199-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,076 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Putnam Lake, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Putnam Lake's boundary and the 2,914 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~199-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Putnam Lake's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Putnam Lakelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Putnam Lake's 2,914 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Putnam County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Putnam 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 Putnam County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Putnam Lake's 2,914 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Putnam Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,914 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Putnam Lake-wide figureread your own land →
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