Waterford, New York, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Waterford, 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 Waterford 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 Waterford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Waterford — the short answer
Waterford, New York: USDA zone 6a, about 206 days between hard freezes, across 181 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~206
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 181 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 Waterford's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waterford's 206-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waterford
Each reading below is measured for Waterford itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWaterford runs about 206 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWaterford 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 Waterford is in
Waterford sits in the Northeastern Coastal Zone — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Waterford's own centroid rather than borrowed from Saratoga County.
What Grows in Waterford
Every plant below cleared Waterford's own zone 6a and its 206-day season. Each card opens that plant's New York profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Waterford?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
Documented around Waterford
Spotted lanternfly documented 8 miles from Waterford, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Waterford
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waterford. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VILLAGE CAR WASHUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- CRIS CRAFT INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- OSAMA MASSOUDUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- AMNA ENTERPRISES, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- NYSDOT BRIDGE MAINTENANCE SHOPBrownfields · 1300 ft
- NYSDOT BIN4415100Brownfields · 1400 ft
- NYSDOT BIN 4022510Brownfields · 1400 ft
- TOWN OF WATERFORDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- NYS CANAL CORP - LOCK E03Brownfields · 1600 ft
- NYSDOTBrownfields · 1700 ft
- NYSDOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- CHARLES FREIHOFER BAKING COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waterford'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 Waterford.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waterford
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waterford
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Waterford, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 15 sites within ~10 miles of Waterford. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Waterford
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 Waterford average
Your land is one point inside Waterford
Everything above resolves to Waterford as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 181 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 Waterford Average
Waterford Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Waterford
- ●One soil character for all of Waterford
- ●Frost dates read at Waterford's scale: Apr 10 to Nov 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waterford's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waterford
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waterford, New York — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waterford averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waterford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waterford average
How we know this about Waterford
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 Waterford’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 Waterford
When does frost risk typically end in Waterford?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waterford typically lands around Apr 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 1.
When is the first frost in Waterford?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waterford typically arrives around Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 19, so the watching starts about Oct 3 — about 206 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Waterford?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waterford sees about 206 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 19, about 171 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Waterford?
The federal record around Waterford is a meaningful one — 1,599 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (811), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Waterford?
From about Oct 3 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 Nov 2 (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 Nov 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Waterford's scale — its 6a band and its 206-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waterford'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 Waterford’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Waterford's own scale — its own ~206-day season between 28°F freezes, the 181 acres it covers and 1,599 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waterford's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Waterford's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Nov 2 and the ~206-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,599 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waterford, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waterford's boundary and the 181 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~206-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Waterford's own centroid, the Northeastern Coastal ZoneUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Waterfordlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Waterford's 181 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Saratoga County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Saratoga 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 Saratoga County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Waterford's 181 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waterford you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 181 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Waterford-wide figureread your own land →
More in New York
Wider growing context
What grows across New YorkWaterford sits outside our named growing regions, so New York as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides