Virgil, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Virgil, 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 Virgil 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 Virgil — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Virgil — the short answer
Virgil, New York: USDA zone 5b, about 179 days between hard freezes, across 572 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- 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 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~179
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 572 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 Virgil's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Virgil's 179-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Virgil
Each reading below is measured for Virgil itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredVirgil runs about 179 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
MeasuredVirgil 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 Virgil is in
Virgil sits in the Northern Allegheny Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Virgil's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cortland County.
What Grows in Virgil
Every plant below cleared Virgil's own zone 5b and its 179-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Virgil?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 22 — 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 Virgil
Spotted lanternfly documented 15 miles from Virgil, first recorded 2020. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Virgil
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Virgil. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RITE AID #10738Brownfields · 1000 ft
- PECK FARMCAFO · 0.6 mi
- POWER FARMSCAFO · 0.6 mi
- KMART 7134Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- TRACTOR SUPPLY CO STORE #652Brownfields · 1.6 mi
- PYROTEK INCBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- PYROTEK INCToxics Release Inventory · 2.0 mi
- C 284Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- JERRY-DELL FARMCAFO · 2.6 mi
- C 21Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- C 283Nitrate · 2.9 mi
- C 108Nitrate · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Virgil'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 Virgil.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Virgil
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Virgil
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Virgil, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Virgil — CAFO (19 sites) and Nitrate (138 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Virgil
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 Virgil average
Your land is one point inside Virgil
Everything above resolves to Virgil as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 572 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 Virgil Average
Virgil Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Virgil
- ●One soil character for all of Virgil
- ●Frost dates read at Virgil's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Virgil's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Virgil
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Virgil, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Virgil averages can't show:
We read public map data around Virgil — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Virgil average
How we know this about Virgil
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 Virgil’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 Virgil
When does frost risk typically end in Virgil?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Virgil 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 Virgil?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Virgil typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 179 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Virgil?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Virgil sees about 179 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 8, about 144 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Virgil?
The federal record around Virgil is a meaningful one — 335 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (138), 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 Virgil?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Virgil's scale — its 5b band and its 179-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Virgil'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 Virgil’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Virgil's own scale — its own ~179-day season between 28°F freezes, the 572 acres it covers and 335 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Virgil's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Virgil's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 22 and the ~179-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 335 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Virgil, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Virgil's boundary and the 572 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~179-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Virgil's own centroid, the Northern Allegheny PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Virgillydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Virgil's 572 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cortland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cortland 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 Cortland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Virgil's 572 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Virgil you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 572 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 Virgil-wide figureread your own land →
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