South Lansing, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Lansing, 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 South Lansing 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 South Lansing — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Lansing — the short answer
South Lansing, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~190
- 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 6a is South Lansing's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Lansing's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Lansing
Each reading below is measured for South Lansing itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouth Lansing runs about 190 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
MeasuredSouth Lansing sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 South Lansing is in
South Lansing sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at South Lansing's own centroid rather than borrowed from Tompkins County.
What Grows in South Lansing
Every plant below cleared South Lansing's own zone 6a and its 190-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Lansing?
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 Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
Documented around South Lansing
Spotted lanternfly documented 7 miles from South Lansing, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Lansing
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Lansing. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- METAL IMPROVEMENT CO LLC DBA IMR TEST LABSBrownfields · 850 ft
- US AIR FUEL FACILITYUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- THE HERTZ CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- HILLARD'S WRECKER & SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- COLONIAL CLEANERSBrownfields · 2500 ft
- MIRABITO #115Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- NYSDOT BIN 1010381Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 1010382Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- PIT STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- LANSING FOODLINERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TOWN OF LANSING HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- G PLUS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Lansing'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 South Lansing.
Total Sites
408
within ~10 miles of South Lansing
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Lansing
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Lansing
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Lansing, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 19 sites within ~10 miles of South Lansing. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in South Lansing
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 South Lansing average
Your land is one point inside South Lansing
Everything above resolves to South Lansing 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 South Lansing Average
South Lansing Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across South Lansing
- ●One soil character for all of South Lansing
- ●Frost dates read at South Lansing's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Lansing's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Lansing
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Lansing, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Lansing averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Lansing — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Lansing average
How we know this about South Lansing
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 South Lansing’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 South Lansing
When does frost risk typically end in South Lansing?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Lansing typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in South Lansing?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Lansing typically arrives around Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 14, so the watching starts about Sep 28 — about 190 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Lansing?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Lansing sees about 190 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 14, about 155 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Lansing?
The federal record around South Lansing is a meaningful one — 408 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (188), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles 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 South Lansing?
From about Sep 28 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Lansing's scale — its 6a band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Lansing'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 South Lansing’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at South Lansing's own scale — its own ~190-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,767 acres it covers and 408 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Lansing's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- South Lansing's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 28 and the ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 408 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Lansing, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Lansing's boundary and the 1,767 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Lansing's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of South Lansinglydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Lansing's 1,767 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Tompkins County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Tompkins 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 Tompkins County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Lansing's 1,767 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Lansing you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,767 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 South Lansing-wide figureread your own land →