South Londonderry, Vermont, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Londonderry, 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 South Londonderry 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 South Londonderry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Londonderry — the short answer
South Londonderry, Vermont: USDA zone 5a, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 398 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~156
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 398 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 South Londonderry's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Londonderry's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Londonderry
Each reading below is measured for South Londonderry itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouth Londonderry runs about 156 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
MeasuredSouth Londonderry 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 South Londonderry is in
South Londonderry sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at South Londonderry's own centroid rather than borrowed from Windham County.
What Grows in South Londonderry
Every plant below cleared South Londonderry's own zone 5a and its 156-day season. Each card opens that plant's Vermont profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Londonderry?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — 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 South Londonderry
Spotted lanternfly documented 17 miles from South Londonderry, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Londonderry
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Londonderry. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Londonderry Town GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- LandmansUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- BROWN ENTERPRISESBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- Greene ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Cole ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Magic Ski Area Maintenance ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Wiley's GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- David Chaves ExcavatingUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- JELLEYS AUTO CARE CTRBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- VTrans Londonderry GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- VTRANS-LONDONDERRYBrownfields · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Londonderry'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 South Londonderry.
Total Sites
92
within ~10 miles of South Londonderry
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 mining site (prospects, none worked)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Londonderry
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Londonderry
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Londonderry, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 68 sites within ~10 miles of South Londonderry. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in South Londonderry
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 South Londonderry average
Your land is one point inside South Londonderry
Everything above resolves to South Londonderry as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 398 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 South Londonderry Average
South Londonderry Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across South Londonderry
- ●One soil character for all of South Londonderry
- ●Frost dates read at South Londonderry's scale: May 6 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Londonderry's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Londonderry
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Londonderry, Vermont — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Londonderry averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Londonderry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Londonderry average
How we know this about South Londonderry
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 South Londonderry’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 South Londonderry
When does frost risk typically end in South Londonderry?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Londonderry typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in South Londonderry?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Londonderry typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 156 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Londonderry?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Londonderry sees about 156 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 25, about 121 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Londonderry?
The federal record around South Londonderry shows 92 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (68), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in South Londonderry?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Londonderry's scale — its 5a band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Londonderry'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 South Londonderry’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at South Londonderry's own scale — its own ~156-day season between 28°F freezes, the 398 acres it covers and 92 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Londonderry's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- South Londonderry's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 9 and the ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 92 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Londonderry, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Londonderry's boundary and the 398 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Londonderry's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of South Londonderrylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Londonderry's 398 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Windham County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Windham 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 Windham County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Londonderry's 398 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Londonderry you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 398 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 South Londonderry-wide figureread your own land →
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