Aleutians East Borough, in Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zones 5b-8a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Aleutians East Borough holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Aleutians East Borough, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. Enter your address and we'll score 1,085 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Aleutians East Borough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your parcel report in seconds — read in full free for your first 14 days
Aleutians East Borough — the short answer
Aleutians East Borough, Alaska: USDA zones 5b-8a, about 164 days between hard freezes, across 4.5M acres.
- USDA zones
- 5b-8a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- COLD BAY AIRPORT station, 72 ft — 47 km away, 30 yr record
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- COLD BAY AIRPORT station, 72 ft — 47 km away, 30 yr record
- Days between freezes
- ~164
- COLD BAY AIRPORT station, 72 ft — 47 km away, 30 yr record
- County area
- 4.5M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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
Zones 5B–8A
Zones in Aleutians East Borough. Alaska and Hawaii zones come from USDA's separate 2023 AK/HI maps; the national thumbnail map covers the lower 48 only, so the range is shown as text here.
Zone 5b-8a is Aleutians East Borough's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Aleutians East Borough's 164-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil in Aleutians East County
Detailed USDA soil-survey (SSURGO) mapping is limited across Aleutians East County, so there isn't a reliable county-wide soil summary to show here yet — a gap in the national survey, not in the ground itself.
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Aleutians East Borough
Each reading below is measured for Aleutians East Borough itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAleutians East Borough runs about 164 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
MeasuredAleutians East Borough sits in USDA hardiness zones 5b-8a.
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 Aleutians East Borough
We scored all 1,085 plants against Aleutians East Borough's own USDA zone 5b-8a and its own 164-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile.
More to grow in Alaska
Alaska has a growing page for many more plants than fit above — a rotating sample of the rest of the shelf.
Is it too late to plant in Aleutians East Borough?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Aleutians East County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Aleutians East County — 151 documented sites across 5 of the 8 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 8 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Aleutians East County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 8 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Aleutians East Borough
Closest first, across Aleutians East County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UnnamedMining · 3.5 mi
- Volcano BayMining · 4.2 mi
- Unnamed (west Dolgoi Island)Mining · 7.3 mi
- Pmrgx-5Mining · 8.2 mi
- Mt. DuttonMining · 11.7 mi
- Lenard HarborMining · 16.6 mi
- Pmrgx-4Mining · 19.3 mi
- Pmrgx-12Mining · 23.1 mi
- USAF COLD BAY LRRSSuperfund · 27.3 mi
- USAF COLD BAY LRRSBrownfields · 27.3 mi
- USDOI FWS AK MARITIME NWR: CATON ISL STASuperfund · 27.9 mi
- FROSTY FUEL COLD BAY TANK FARMBrownfields · 28.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius.
Measured from Aleutians East Borough's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Browse the full contamination data for this area
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Aleutians East Borough.
Total Sites
151
across Aleutians East County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Aleutians East County
Severity Distribution
across Aleutians East County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Aleutians East Borough, two things run higher than the national average across Aleutians East County — Mining (120 sites) and Superfund (8 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Aleutians East Borough
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,085 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Aleutians East Borough average
Your land is one point inside Aleutians East Borough
Everything above resolves to Aleutians East Borough as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 4.5M 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Aleutians East Borough Average
Aleutians East Borough Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b-8a, averaged across Aleutians East Borough
- ●One soil character for all of Aleutians East Borough
- ●Frost dates read at Aleutians East Borough's scale: May 10 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Aleutians East Borough's 5b-8a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Aleutians East Borough
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Aleutians East Borough, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Aleutians East Borough averages can't show:
We read public map data around Aleutians East Borough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Aleutians East Borough average
How we know this about Aleutians East Borough
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Aleutians East Borough carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Aleutians East Borough
When does frost risk typically end in Aleutians East Borough?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Aleutians East Borough typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
How long is the growing season in Aleutians East Borough?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Aleutians East Borough sees about 164 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Oct 7, about 129 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Aleutians East Borough?
The federal record around Aleutians East Borough is a meaningful one — 151 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (120), the nearest Mining record about 3.5 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.
Everything above is measured at Aleutians East Borough's scale — its 5b-8a band and its 164-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Aleutians East Borough's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Alaska's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Aleutians East Borough’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Aleutians East Borough's own scale — its own ~164-day span between 28°F freezes and 151 documented sites inside its boundary; 2 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Aleutians East Borough's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5b-8aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Aleutians East Borough's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~164-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 151 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Mining record about 3.5 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Aleutians East Borough's boundary and the 4,470,636 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,085 plants clear zones 5b-8a and a ~164-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Aleutians East Borough — the ~164 days above is one reading at its centre; the 24 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Aleutians East Borough's 4,470,636 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 151 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Aleutians East Boroughread your own land →