South Shaftsbury, Vermont, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Shaftsbury, 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 Shaftsbury 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 Shaftsbury — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
South Shaftsbury — the short answer
South Shaftsbury, Vermont: USDA zone 5b, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- 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 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 South Shaftsbury's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Shaftsbury's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Shaftsbury
Each reading below is measured for South Shaftsbury itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouth Shaftsbury runs about 169 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 Shaftsbury 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 South Shaftsbury is in
South Shaftsbury sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at South Shaftsbury's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bennington County.
What Grows in South Shaftsbury
Every plant below cleared South Shaftsbury's own zone 5b and its 169-day season. Each card opens that plant's Vermont profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Shaftsbury?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around South Shaftsbury
Spotted lanternfly documented 31 miles from South Shaftsbury, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Shaftsbury
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Shaftsbury. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SHAFTSBURY DENTAL CENTERBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- SHAFTSBURY GARAGEBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- Shaftsbury Town GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Pradon's GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- The Hiland Hall SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Keuchenius FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- PAULIN INCBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- CLASSIC METAL RESTORATIONSBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- STANLEY TOOLSToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
- Shaftsbury SaabUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- SHAFTSBURY SAAB AUTO REPAIR INCBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- WEST MOUNTAIN ANIMAL HOSPITALBrownfields · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Shaftsbury'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 Shaftsbury.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Shaftsbury
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Shaftsbury
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Shaftsbury, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of South Shaftsbury — Superfund (12 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in South Shaftsbury
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 Shaftsbury average
Your land is one point inside South Shaftsbury
Everything above resolves to South Shaftsbury as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Shaftsbury Average
South Shaftsbury Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across South Shaftsbury
- ●One soil character for all of South Shaftsbury
- ●Frost dates read at South Shaftsbury's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Shaftsbury's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Shaftsbury
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Shaftsbury, Vermont — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Shaftsbury averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Shaftsbury — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Shaftsbury average
How we know this about South Shaftsbury
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 Shaftsbury’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 Shaftsbury
When does frost risk typically end in South Shaftsbury?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Shaftsbury 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 South Shaftsbury?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Shaftsbury typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Shaftsbury?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Shaftsbury sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Oct 1, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Shaftsbury?
The federal record around South Shaftsbury runs heavier than most — 353 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (174), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in South Shaftsbury?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Shaftsbury's scale — its 5b band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Shaftsbury'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 Shaftsbury’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at South Shaftsbury's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,436 acres it covers and 353 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Shaftsbury's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- South Shaftsbury's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 15 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 353 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Shaftsbury, the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Shaftsbury's boundary and the 1,436 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Shaftsbury's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of South Shaftsburylydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Shaftsbury's 1,436 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bennington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bennington 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 Bennington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Shaftsbury's 1,436 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Shaftsbury you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,436 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.8 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 Shaftsbury-wide figureread your own land →
More in Vermont
Wider growing context
What grows across VermontSouth Shaftsbury sits outside our named growing regions, so Vermont as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides