Hartland, Vermont, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, 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 Hartland, 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 Hartland 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 Hartland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hartland — the short answer
Hartland, Vermont: USDA zone 5a, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 696 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 696 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 5a is Hartland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hartland's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hartland
Each reading below is measured for Hartland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHartland runs about 166 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
MeasuredHartland sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Hartland is in
Hartland sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Hartland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Windsor County.
What Grows in Hartland
Every plant below cleared Hartland's own zone 5a and its 166-day season. Each card opens that plant's Vermont profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hartland?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around Hartland
Spotted lanternfly documented 3 miles from Hartland, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Hartland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hartland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MIKE'S STORE AND DELIBrownfields · 1300 ft
- Mike's Store & CollectablesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- North Hartland DamUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Hartland Town GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- HARTLAND TOWN GARAGEBrownfields · 1800 ft
- VT-HLW 57Nitrate · 1900 ft
- Hartland Four Corners PO PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Hartland Elementary SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Vermont Log BuildersUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Tri-State Timberland/GlobalUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- GLOBAL TIMBER PRODUCTS LTDBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- JUDDS AUTOMOTIVE LLCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hartland'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 Hartland.
Total Sites
449
within ~10 miles of Hartland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hartland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hartland
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Hartland
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 Hartland average
Your land is one point inside Hartland
Everything above resolves to Hartland as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 696 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 Hartland Average
Hartland Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Hartland
- ●One soil character for all of Hartland
- ●Frost dates read at Hartland's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hartland's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hartland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hartland, Vermont — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hartland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hartland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hartland average
How we know this about Hartland
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 Hartland’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 Hartland
When does frost risk typically end in Hartland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hartland typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Hartland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hartland typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 166 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hartland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hartland sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 28, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hartland?
The federal record around Hartland is a meaningful one — 449 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (242), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Hartland?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hartland's scale — its 5a band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hartland'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 Hartland’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Hartland's own scale — its own ~166-day season between 28°F freezes, the 696 acres it covers and 449 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hartland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hartland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 12 and the ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 449 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hartland, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hartland's boundary and the 696 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hartland's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Hartlandlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hartland's 696 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Windsor County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Windsor County
- The growing challenges every Vermont grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Vermont
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Windsor County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hartland's 696 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hartland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 696 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Hartland-wide figureread your own land →
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