South Woodstock, Vermont, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 South Woodstock, 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 Woodstock 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 Woodstock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Woodstock — the short answer
South Woodstock, Vermont: USDA zone 5b, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 590 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- 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
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 590 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 Woodstock's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Woodstock'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 Woodstock
Each reading below is measured for South Woodstock itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouth Woodstock 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 Woodstock 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 Woodstock is in
South Woodstock sits in the Northeastern Highlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at South Woodstock's own centroid rather than borrowed from Windsor County.
What Grows in South Woodstock
Every plant below cleared South Woodstock'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 Woodstock?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (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. 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 Woodstock
Spotted lanternfly documented 9 miles from South Woodstock, first recorded 2021. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Woodstock
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Woodstock. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Woodstock Country ClubUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- Ely ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- South Woodstock Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- Freeny ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- Newbury ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- VT-X8W 13Nitrate · 3.3 mi
- SAVELBERG CONSTRUCTIONBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- DEAD RIVER COMPANYBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- DEAD RIVER CO PROPANE PLANTBrownfields · 3.8 mi
- Rutherford FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- WOODSTOCK COUNTRY CLUBBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- A & B Motors, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Woodstock'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 Woodstock.
Total Sites
211
within ~10 miles of South Woodstock
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Woodstock
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Woodstock
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 South Woodstock
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 Woodstock average
Your land is one point inside South Woodstock
Everything above resolves to South Woodstock as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 590 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 Woodstock Average
South Woodstock Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across South Woodstock
- ●One soil character for all of South Woodstock
- ●Frost dates read at South Woodstock's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Woodstock's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Woodstock
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Woodstock, Vermont — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Woodstock averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Woodstock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Woodstock average
How we know this about South Woodstock
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 Woodstock’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 Woodstock
When does frost risk typically end in South Woodstock?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Woodstock typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in South Woodstock?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Woodstock 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 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Woodstock?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Woodstock sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Sep 28, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Woodstock?
The federal record around South Woodstock is a meaningful one — 211 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (121), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 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 South Woodstock?
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 South Woodstock's scale — its 5b band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Woodstock'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 Woodstock’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at South Woodstock's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 590 acres it covers and 211 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Woodstock's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- South Woodstock's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 12 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 211 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Woodstock, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Woodstock's boundary and the 590 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 Woodstock's own centroid, the Northeastern HighlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of South Woodstocklydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Woodstock's 590 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 South Woodstock's 590 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Woodstock you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 590 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 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 Woodstock-wide figureread your own land →
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