Fairbanks North Star Borough, in Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zones 3a-4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Fairbanks North Star Borough lies within the Interior Alaska / Tanana Valley (Fairbanks) — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Fairbanks North Star Borough holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Fairbanks North Star Borough, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Fairbanks North Star Borough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fairbanks North Star Borough — the short answer
Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska: USDA zones 3a-4b, about 114 days between hard freezes, across 4.7M acres.
- USDA zones
- 3a-4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 16
- NORTH POLE station, 475 ft — 41 km away, 30 yr record
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 7
- NORTH POLE station, 475 ft — 41 km away, 30 yr record
- Days between freezes
- ~114
- NORTH POLE station, 475 ft — 41 km away, 30 yr record
- County area
- 4.7M 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
Zone 3a-4b is Fairbanks North Star Borough's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fairbanks North Star Borough's 114-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil in Fairbanks North Star County
Across Fairbanks North Star County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Gilmore, Steese, and Ester are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally poorly drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.3–5.8, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Poorly drained
Hydric soils
49%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Fairbanks North Star Borough
The USDA soil survey maps 38% of Fairbanks North Star Borough as poorly drained — but another 59% drains differently: 37% well drained, 16% very poorly drained.
Gilmore is the most extensive named soil at 16% of mapped acres, then Steese (6%) and Ester (5%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Fairbanks North Star Borough
Each reading below is measured for Fairbanks North Star Borough itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Fairbanks North Star Borough are poorly drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that sheds water slowly.
Beds can stay saturated for days after heavy rain, and the roots of most vegetables, berries, and fruit trees suffocate or rot in soil that never drains.
Raised beds or mounded rows lift roots above the wet zone; choose water-tolerant crops for the lowest spots.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Fairbanks North Star Borough runs about pH 5.3–5.8, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredFairbanks North Star Borough runs about 114 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredFairbanks North Star Borough sits in USDA hardiness zones 3a-4b.
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 Fairbanks North Star Borough
We scored all 1,086 plants against Fairbanks North Star Borough's own USDA zone 3a-4b and its own 114-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.
Is it too late to plant in Fairbanks North Star Borough?
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 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 7 — 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.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Fairbanks North Star County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Fairbanks North Star County — 1,523 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 24 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Fairbanks North Star Borough carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Fairbanks North Star Borough
Closest first, across Fairbanks North Star County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- YUKON TRAINING AREA - FT. WAINWRIGHTBrownfields · 10.6 mi
- ALYESKA TAPS PUMP STATION 08Brownfields · 12.9 mi
- FD00300417DDBB1 001Nitrate · 14.4 mi
- Chena Hot Springs ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 16.2 mi
- Skips CacheUnderground Storage Tanks · 16.2 mi
- JENNY M CREEK BRIDGE DEMOBrownfields · 16.2 mi
- EIELSON - AIR FORCE BASEPFAS · 16.3 mi
- EIELSON AIR FORCE BASESuperfund · 16.4 mi
- FD00300311ADAB1 008Nitrate · 17.2 mi
- FD00300311DAAB1 006Nitrate · 17.2 mi
- Chena Valley DevelopmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 17.2 mi
- FD00300311ADCD1 004Nitrate · 17.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fairbanks North Star Borough'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 Fairbanks North Star Borough.
Sources Checked
across Fairbanks North Star County
Severity Distribution
across Fairbanks North Star County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fairbanks North Star Borough, two things run higher than the national average across Fairbanks North Star County — Mining (242 sites) and Nitrate (646 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Fairbanks North Star Borough
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 Fairbanks North Star Borough average
Your land is one point inside Fairbanks North Star Borough
Everything above resolves to Fairbanks North Star Borough as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 4.7M 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 Fairbanks North Star Borough Average
Fairbanks North Star Borough Average
- ●USDA Zones 3a-4b, averaged across Fairbanks North Star Borough
- ●One soil character for all of Fairbanks North Star Borough
- ●Frost dates read at Fairbanks North Star Borough's scale: May 16 to Sep 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fairbanks North Star Borough's 3a-4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Fairbanks North Star Borough
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fairbanks North Star Borough, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fairbanks North Star Borough averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fairbanks North Star Borough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fairbanks North Star Borough average
How we know this about Fairbanks North Star 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 Fairbanks North Star Borough carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Fairbanks North Star Borough
When does frost risk typically end in Fairbanks North Star Borough?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fairbanks North Star Borough typically lands around May 16, 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 6.
How long is the growing season in Fairbanks North Star Borough?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fairbanks North Star Borough sees about 114 frost-free days — roughly May 16 through Sep 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 6 to Aug 24, about 79 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fairbanks North Star Borough?
The federal record around Fairbanks North Star Borough runs heavier than most — 1,523 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (646), the nearest Brownfields record about 11 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 gardeners stretch the season in Fairbanks North Star Borough?
With about 114 frost-free days between hard freezes, Fairbanks North Star Borough 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 142 to 170 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 16 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Fairbanks North Star Borough's scale — its 3a-4b band and its 114-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fairbanks North Star 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 Fairbanks North Star Borough’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fairbanks North Star Borough's own scale — its own ~114-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 1,523 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fairbanks North Star Borough's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3a-4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fairbanks North Star Borough's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~114-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Fairbanks North Star BoroughUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 1,523 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 11 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Fairbanks North Star Borough's boundary and the 4,694,392 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3a-4b and a ~114-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Alaska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Alaska
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Fairbanks North Star Borough — the ~114 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fairbanks North Star Borough's 4,694,392 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 1,523 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 Fairbanks North Star Boroughread your own land →