Richburg, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Richburg, 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 Richburg 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 Richburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Richburg — the short answer
Richburg, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 576 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~156
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 576 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 5b is Richburg's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Richburg's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Richburg
Each reading below is measured for Richburg itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRichburg runs about 156 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
MeasuredRichburg sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Richburg is in
Richburg sits in the North Central Appalachians — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Richburg's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Allegany County is mostly Northern Allegheny Plateau. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Richburg
Every plant below cleared Richburg's own zone 5b and its 156-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Richburg?
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 Apr 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — 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 Richburg
Spotted lanternfly documented 17 miles from Richburg, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Richburg
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Richburg. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOWN OF WIRTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- KORNER STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- AG 247Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- AG2005Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- BOLIVAR-RICHBURG CENTRAL SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #10600Brownfields · 1.6 mi
- 310 MAIN STREET - NY0064Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- KWIK-FILL #M0069Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- BOLIVAR CENTRAL SCHOOLBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- RAYMOND W. STIMSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- MAJOT'S SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- BOLIVAR STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Richburg'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 Richburg.
Total Sites
124
within ~10 miles of Richburg
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Richburg
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Richburg
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Richburg, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 48 sites within ~10 miles of Richburg. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Richburg
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 Richburg average
Your land is one point inside Richburg
Everything above resolves to Richburg as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 576 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 Richburg Average
Richburg Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Richburg
- ●One soil character for all of Richburg
- ●Frost dates read at Richburg's scale: May 7 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Richburg's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Richburg
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Richburg, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Richburg averages can't show:
We read public map data around Richburg — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Richburg average
How we know this about Richburg
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 Richburg’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 Richburg
When does frost risk typically end in Richburg?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Richburg typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Richburg?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Richburg typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 156 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Richburg?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Richburg sees about 156 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 26, about 121 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Richburg?
The federal record around Richburg shows 124 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (48), 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 Richburg?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Richburg's scale — its 5b band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Richburg'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 Richburg’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Richburg's own scale — its own ~156-day season between 28°F freezes, the 576 acres it covers and 124 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Richburg's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Richburg's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 10 and the ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 124 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Richburg, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Richburg's boundary and the 576 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Richburg sits in the North Central Appalachians — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Richburglydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Richburg's 576 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Allegany County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Allegany 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 Allegany County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Richburg's 576 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Richburg you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 576 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 Richburg-wide figureread your own land →
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