Birch Creek, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 1a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Birch Creek, 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 Birch Creek 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 Birch Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Birch Creek — the short answer
Birch Creek, Alaska: USDA zone 1a, about 118 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 1a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 15
- Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 10
- Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~118
- Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 1a is Birch Creek's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Birch Creek's 118-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Birch Creek
Each reading below is measured for Birch Creek itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsBirch Creek runs about 118 days between hard freezes (read from Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, the closest normal to Birch Creek) — 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
MeasuredBirch Creek sits in USDA hardiness zone 1a.
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 Birch Creek
Plants matched to Birch Creek's USDA zones 1a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Birch Creek?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Birch Creek
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Birch Creek. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Alaska Commercial Co.Underground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- USAF 611th - Fort Yukon AFSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
Measured from Birch Creek'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 Birch Creek.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Birch Creek
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Birch Creek
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 Birch Creek average
Your land is one point inside Birch Creek
Everything above resolves to Birch Creek as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area’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 Birch Creek Average
Birch Creek Average
- ●USDA Zones 1a, averaged across Birch Creek
- ●One soil character for all of Birch Creek
- ●Frost dates read at Birch Creek's scale: May 15 to Sep 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Birch Creek's 1a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Birch Creek
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Birch Creek, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Birch Creek averages can't show:
We read public map data around Birch Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Birch Creek average
How we know this about Birch Creek
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 Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area’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 Birch Creek
When does frost risk typically end in Birch Creek?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Birch Creek typically lands around May 15, 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 Jun 5.
When is the first frost in Birch Creek?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Birch Creek typically arrives around Sep 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 27, so the watching starts about Aug 11 — about 118 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Birch Creek?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Birch Creek sees about 118 frost-free days — roughly May 15 through Sep 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 5 to Aug 27, about 83 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Birch Creek?
The federal record around Birch Creek is light — 2 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (2), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Birch Creek?
With about 118 frost-free days between hard freezes, Birch Creek 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 146 to 174 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 15 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Birch Creek's scale — its 1a band and its 118-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Birch Creek'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 Birch Creek’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Birch Creek's own scale — the 5,110 acres it covers and 2 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Birch Creek's own USDA hardiness band, zones 1aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Birch Creek, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Birch Creek's boundary and the 5,110 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Birch Creek has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Birch Creek's 5,110 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Yukon-Koyukuk County
- The candidate plant list — Alaska's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Alaska
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Yukon-Koyukuk 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 Yukon-Koyukuk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Birch Creek's 5,110 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Birch Creek you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,110 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.2 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 Birch Creek-wide figureread your own land →