Sherburne, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Sherburne, 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 Sherburne 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 Sherburne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Sherburne — the short answer
Sherburne, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 972 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 972 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 Sherburne's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sherburne's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sherburne
Each reading below is measured for Sherburne itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSherburne runs about 171 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
MeasuredSherburne 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 Sherburne is in
Sherburne sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sherburne's own centroid rather than borrowed from Chenango County.
What Grows in Sherburne
Every plant below cleared Sherburne's own zone 5b and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Sherburne?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Sherburne
Spotted lanternfly documented 23 miles from Sherburne, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Sherburne
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sherburne. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CTC OF NY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- STEWART'S SHOP #426Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- GREAT AMERICAN #464Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- NBT BANK, N.A.Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- SHERBURNE BIG MUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- VILLAGE OF SHERBURNEBrownfields · 1300 ft
- HAMILTON PRODUCTS INCToxics Release Inventory · 1300 ft
- NYSDOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- OLD SHERBURNE EARLVILLE BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- KENYON PRESS INCBrownfields · 1600 ft
- POTTERS TIRE SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- NEW YORK CENTRAL MUTUAL FIRE INSURANCE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sherburne'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 Sherburne.
Total Sites
171
within ~10 miles of Sherburne
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
11 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sherburne
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sherburne
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sherburne, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Sherburne — CAFO (16 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (11 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Sherburne
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 Sherburne average
Your land is one point inside Sherburne
Everything above resolves to Sherburne as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 972 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 Sherburne Average
Sherburne Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Sherburne
- ●One soil character for all of Sherburne
- ●Frost dates read at Sherburne's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sherburne's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sherburne
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sherburne, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sherburne averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sherburne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sherburne average
How we know this about Sherburne
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 Sherburne’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 Sherburne
When does frost risk typically end in Sherburne?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sherburne typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Sherburne?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sherburne typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sherburne?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sherburne sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Oct 3, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sherburne?
The federal record around Sherburne shows 171 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (82), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Sherburne?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sherburne's scale — its 5b band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sherburne'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 Sherburne’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Sherburne's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 972 acres it covers and 171 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sherburne's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Sherburne's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 17 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 171 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sherburne, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sherburne's boundary and the 972 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Sherburne's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Sherburnelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Sherburne's 972 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Chenango County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Chenango 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 Chenango County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sherburne's 972 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sherburne you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 972 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 Sherburne-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkSherburne sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides