Juneau City and Borough, in Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zones 3a-4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Juneau City and Borough lies within the Southeast Alaska / Inside Passage Panhandle — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Juneau City and Borough holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Juneau City and 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 Juneau City and Borough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Juneau City and Borough — the short answer
Juneau City and Borough, Alaska: USDA zones 3a-4b, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 1.7M acres.
- USDA zones
- 3a-4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- JUNEAU AIRPORT station, 19 ft — 22 km away, 30 yr record
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- JUNEAU AIRPORT station, 19 ft — 22 km away, 30 yr record
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- JUNEAU AIRPORT station, 19 ft — 22 km away, 30 yr record
- County area
- 1.7M 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 Juneau City and Borough's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Juneau City and Borough's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil in Juneau County
Across Juneau County, the ground is predominantly Entisols. The surface texture is bedrock. Topsoil pH runs about 5.3, strongly acidic.
Soil order
Entisols
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Juneau City and Borough
Each reading below is measured for Juneau City and Borough itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Juneau City and Borough runs about pH 5.3, 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
MeasuredJuneau City and Borough runs about 180 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
MeasuredJuneau City and 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 Juneau City and Borough
We scored all 1,086 plants against Juneau City and Borough's own USDA zone 3a-4b and its own 180-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 Juneau City and 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 Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Juneau County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Juneau County — 402 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 7 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Juneau City and 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 Juneau City and Borough
Closest first, across Juneau County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY AND BOROUGH OF JUNEAUPFAS · 0 ft
- Sunset Cove ProspectMining · 4.4 mi
- Silver FallsMining · 4.7 mi
- Gould and Curry MineMining · 7.2 mi
- Alaska-JuneauMining · 7.4 mi
- Alaska-Juneau MineMining · 7.5 mi
- Perseverance MineMining · 7.6 mi
- AndersonMining · 7.7 mi
- Silver QueenMining · 7.8 mi
- Anderson ProspectMining · 7.8 mi
- Silver Queen MineMining · 7.8 mi
- ReaganMining · 7.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Juneau City and 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 Juneau City and Borough.
Sources Checked
across Juneau County
Severity Distribution
across Juneau County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Juneau City and Borough, two things run higher than the national average across Juneau County — Mining (122 sites) and Superfund (7 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.
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 Juneau City and 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 Juneau City and Borough average
Your land is one point inside Juneau City and Borough
Everything above resolves to Juneau City and Borough as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 1.7M 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 Juneau City and Borough Average
Juneau City and Borough Average
- ●USDA Zones 3a-4b, averaged across Juneau City and Borough
- ●One soil character for all of Juneau City and Borough
- ●Frost dates read at Juneau City and Borough's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Juneau City and Borough's 3a-4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Juneau City and Borough
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Juneau City and Borough, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Juneau City and Borough averages can't show:
We read public map data around Juneau City and Borough — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Juneau City and Borough average
How we know this about Juneau City and 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 Juneau City and Borough carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Juneau City and Borough
When does frost risk typically end in Juneau City and Borough?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Juneau City and Borough typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
How long is the growing season in Juneau City and Borough?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Juneau City and Borough sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Sep 30, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Juneau City and Borough?
The federal record around Juneau City and Borough runs heavier than most — 402 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (122), the nearest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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.
Everything above is measured at Juneau City and Borough's scale — its 3a-4b band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Juneau City and 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 Juneau City and Borough’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Juneau City and Borough's own scale — its own ~180-day span between 28°F freezes and 402 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Juneau City and Borough's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3a-4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Juneau City and Borough's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The dominant soil order and drainage mapped across Juneau City and BoroughUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 402 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile outFederal environmental registers
- Juneau City and Borough's boundary and the 1,729,870 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3a-4b and a ~180-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 Juneau City and Borough — the ~180 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 Juneau City and Borough's 1,729,870 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 402 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 Juneau City and Boroughread your own land →