Randolph, Vermont, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Randolph, 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 Randolph 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 Randolph — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Randolph — the short answer
Randolph, Vermont: USDA zone 5a, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Randolph's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Randolph's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Randolph
Each reading below is measured for Randolph itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRandolph runs about 162 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
MeasuredRandolph 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 Randolph is in
Randolph sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Randolph's own centroid rather than borrowed from Orange County.
What Grows in Randolph
Every plant below cleared Randolph's own zone 5a and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's Vermont profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Randolph?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — 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 Randolph
Spotted lanternfly documented 19 miles from Randolph, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Randolph
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Randolph. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Washburn's LaundromatUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- New England LandUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Ned Battey PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- CUMBERLAND FARMS #4003Brownfields · 500 ft
- Cumberland Farms #4003Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- WESCO INC CHAMPLAIN FARMSBrownfields · 1000 ft
- Champlain Farms Shell 280-RDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- GILLESPIE FUELS INCBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Ethan Allen Plant #1 Grading ShedUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Bob's M&M Beverage of RandolphUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Jean PeabodyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- former Service Station /RaymondUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Randolph'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 Randolph.
Total Sites
157
within ~10 miles of Randolph
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Randolph
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Randolph
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Randolph, Mining runs higher than the national average — 9 sites within ~10 miles of Randolph. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Randolph
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 Randolph average
Your land is one point inside Randolph
Everything above resolves to Randolph as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Randolph Average
Randolph Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Randolph
- ●One soil character for all of Randolph
- ●Frost dates read at Randolph's scale: May 4 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Randolph's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Randolph
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Randolph, Vermont — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Randolph averages can't show:
We read public map data around Randolph — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Randolph average
How we know this about Randolph
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 Randolph’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 Randolph
When does frost risk typically end in Randolph?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Randolph typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Randolph?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Randolph typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Randolph?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Randolph sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 29, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Randolph?
The federal record around Randolph is a meaningful one — 157 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (80), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Randolph?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Randolph's scale — its 5a band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Randolph'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 Randolph’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Randolph's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,863 acres it covers and 157 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Randolph's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Randolph's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 13 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 157 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Randolph, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Randolph's boundary and the 2,863 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Randolph's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Randolphlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Randolph's 2,863 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Orange County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Orange 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 Orange County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Randolph's 2,863 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Randolph you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,863 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Randolph-wide figureread your own land →
More in Vermont
Wider growing context
What grows across VermontRandolph sits outside our named growing regions, so Vermont as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides