Thendara, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Thendara, 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 Thendara 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 Thendara — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Thendara — the short answer
Thendara, New York: USDA zone 4a, about 152 days between hard freezes, across 357 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~152
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 357 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 4a is Thendara's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Thendara's 152-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Thendara
Each reading below is measured for Thendara itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredThendara runs about 152 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
MeasuredThendara sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Thendara is in
Thendara sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Thendara's own centroid rather than borrowed from Herkimer County.
What Grows in Thendara
Every plant below cleared Thendara's own zone 4a and its 152-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Thendara?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Thendara
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Thendara. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COUNTRY CLUB MOTELUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- THENDARA GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- NORTH COUNTRY MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- NYS DOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- WEBB(T) HIGHWAY GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- SMITH MARINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- NYSDOT BIN 7020240Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 7715270Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 7715280Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 7715310Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- NYSDOT BIN 7715320Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- FASTRAC MARKET #226Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Thendara'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 Thendara.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Thendara
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Thendara
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Thendara, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 34 sites within ~10 miles of Thendara. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Thendara
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 Thendara average
Your land is one point inside Thendara
Everything above resolves to Thendara as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 357 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 Thendara Average
Thendara Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Thendara
- ●One soil character for all of Thendara
- ●Frost dates read at Thendara's scale: May 10 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Thendara's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Thendara
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Thendara, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Thendara averages can't show:
We read public map data around Thendara — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Thendara average
How we know this about Thendara
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 Thendara’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 Thendara
When does frost risk typically end in Thendara?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Thendara typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Thendara?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Thendara typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 152 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Thendara?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Thendara sees about 152 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 25, about 117 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Thendara?
The federal record around Thendara shows 85 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (41), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Thendara?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Thendara's scale — its 4a band and its 152-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Thendara'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 Thendara’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Thendara's own scale — its own ~152-day season between 28°F freezes, the 357 acres it covers and 85 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Thendara's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Thendara's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 9 and the ~152-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 85 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Thendara, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Thendara's boundary and the 357 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~152-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Thendara's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Thendara's 357 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Herkimer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Herkimer 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 Herkimer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Thendara's 357 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Thendara you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 357 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Thendara-wide figureread your own land →
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