Tillson, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Tillson, 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 Tillson 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 Tillson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Tillson — the short answer
Tillson, New York: USDA zone 6b, about 194 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~194
- 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 6b is Tillson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tillson's 194-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tillson
Each reading below is measured for Tillson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTillson runs about 194 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
MeasuredTillson sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Tillson is in
Tillson sits in the Ridge and Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Tillson's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Ulster County is mostly Northeastern Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Tillson
Every plant below cleared Tillson's own zone 6b and its 194-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tillson?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — 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 Tillson
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Tillson, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Tillson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tillson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- U4172Nitrate · 650 ft
- WINDET CORPUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- ARTHUR F MULLIGAN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ZAJKOWSKIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- TILLSON SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- ROULEY BUILDING PRODUCTS CORP.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PARK HEIGHTS PROJECTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- NYSDEC ROSENDALE CLEANER SITE ID# 356050Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- AZAM & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- ST PETER'S CHURCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- NYSDOT - RTE 32 OVER RONDOUT CREEK BIN 1022310Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- MARTIN'S DRY CLEANERS AND TAILORSBrownfields · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tillson'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 Tillson.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tillson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tillson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tillson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Tillson — Underground Storage Tanks (388 sites) and PFAS (5 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Tillson
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 Tillson average
Your land is one point inside Tillson
Everything above resolves to Tillson 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 Tillson Average
Tillson Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Tillson
- ●One soil character for all of Tillson
- ●Frost dates read at Tillson's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tillson's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tillson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tillson, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tillson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tillson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tillson average
How we know this about Tillson
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 Tillson’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 Tillson
When does frost risk typically end in Tillson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tillson typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Tillson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tillson typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 194 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tillson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tillson sees about 194 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 10, about 159 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tillson?
The federal record around Tillson runs heavier than most — 579 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (388), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Tillson?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tillson's scale — its 6b band and its 194-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tillson'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 Tillson’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Tillson's own scale — its own ~194-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,501 acres it covers and 579 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tillson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Tillson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 24 and the ~194-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 579 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tillson, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tillson's boundary and the 1,501 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~194-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Tillson sits in the Ridge and Valley — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Tillsonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tillson's 1,501 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ulster County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ulster 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 Ulster County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tillson's 1,501 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tillson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,501 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Tillson-wide figureread your own land →