Salem, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Salem, 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 Salem 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 Salem — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Salem — the short answer
Salem, New York: USDA zone 5a, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 2K 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 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Salem's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Salem's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Salem
Each reading below is measured for Salem itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSalem runs about 170 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
MeasuredSalem 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 Salem is in
Salem sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Salem's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washington County.
What Grows in Salem
Every plant below cleared Salem's own zone 5a and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Salem?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 13 — 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 Salem
Spotted lanternfly documented 17 miles from Salem, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Salem
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Salem. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SALEM SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- STEWART'S SHOP 157Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- ONDAWA AGWAY COOP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CONVENIENT FOOD MART__(CFM)Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- SALEM CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- MATTHEWS AUTOMOTIVE (SSC #487)Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- STEWART'S SHOP # 157Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- US EPA REGION 2 - SHUSHAN BENTWOOD I SITEBrownfields · 1500 ft
- SHUSHAN BENTWOOD ISuperfund · 1800 ft
- W1419Nitrate · 2100 ft
- WEST HEBRON UNITED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- ANDYS SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Salem'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 Salem.
Total Sites
86
within ~10 miles of Salem
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Salem
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Salem
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Salem, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Salem — CAFO (12 sites) and Superfund (3 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Salem
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 Salem average
Your land is one point inside Salem
Everything above resolves to Salem as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Salem Average
Salem Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Salem
- ●One soil character for all of Salem
- ●Frost dates read at Salem's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Salem's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Salem
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Salem, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Salem averages can't show:
We read public map data around Salem — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Salem average
How we know this about Salem
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 Salem’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 Salem
When does frost risk typically end in Salem?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Salem 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 Salem?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Salem typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Salem?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Salem sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Sep 29, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Salem?
The federal record around Salem is a meaningful one — 86 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), 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 Salem?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Salem's scale — its 5a band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Salem'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 Salem’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Salem's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,877 acres it covers and 86 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Salem's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Salem's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 13 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 86 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Salem, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Salem's boundary and the 1,877 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Salem's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Salemlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Salem's 1,877 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington 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 Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Salem's 1,877 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Salem you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,877 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 Salem-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkSalem sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides