Big Lake, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Big Lake, 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 Big Lake 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 Big Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Big Lake — the short answer
Big Lake, Alaska: USDA zone 4a, about 145 days between hard freezes, across 74K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 28
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~145
- Matanuska-Susitna Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 74K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 4a is Big Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Big Lake's 145-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Big Lake
Each reading below is measured for Big Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBig Lake runs about 145 days between hard freezes (read from Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the closest normal to Big Lake) — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBig Lake sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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
What Grows in Big Lake
Every plant below cleared Big Lake's own zone 4a and its 145-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Big Lake?
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 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 Sep 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Big Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Big Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SB01700435DCDC1 002Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- SB01700432CDDA1 002Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- Big Lake Rent-allUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- ADNR - Division Of Parks & Outdoor Rec.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- ADNR Forestry - Big Lake StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Alaska Railroad Corporation (arrc)Underground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Bailey's A-1 Discount FurnitureUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Big Lake Air ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Big Lake District OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Big Lake MarinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Big Lake TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Charles HarnedUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Big Lake'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 Big Lake.
Total Sites
74
within ~10 miles of Big Lake
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Big Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Big Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Big Lake, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 28 sites within ~10 miles of Big Lake. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Big Lake
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 Big Lake average
Your land is one point inside Big Lake
Everything above resolves to Big Lake as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 74K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. 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 Big Lake Average
Big Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Big Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Big Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Big Lake's scale: May 6 to Sep 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Big Lake's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Big Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Big Lake, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Big Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Big Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Big Lake average
How we know this about Big Lake
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 Matanuska-Susitna Borough’s record, because none resolves here; 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 Big Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Big Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Big Lake 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 Big Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Big Lake typically arrives around Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 14, so the watching starts about Aug 29 — about 145 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Big Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Big Lake sees about 145 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 14, about 110 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Big Lake?
The federal record around Big Lake is a meaningful one — 74 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (40), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.0 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 gardeners stretch the season in Big Lake?
With about 145 frost-free days between hard freezes, Big Lake rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 173 to 201 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 6 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Big Lake's scale — its 4a band and its 145-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Big Lake'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 Big Lake’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Big Lake's own scale — the 73,804 acres it covers and 74 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Big Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 74 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Big Lake, the closest Nitrate record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Big Lake's boundary and the 73,804 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~145-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Big Lake has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Matanuska-Susitna Borough
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Big Lake's 73,804 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Matanuska-Susitna County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Matanuska-Susitna County
- The growing challenges every Alaska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alaska
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Matanuska-Susitna County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Big Lake's 73,804 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Big Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 73,804 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.0 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 Big Lake-wide figureread your own land →