Eielson AFB, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 2a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Eielson AFB, 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 Eielson AFB 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 Eielson AFB — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Eielson AFB — the short answer
Eielson AFB, Alaska: USDA zone 2a, about 114 days between hard freezes, across 19K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 2a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 16
- Fairbanks North Star Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 7
- Fairbanks North Star Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~114
- Fairbanks North Star Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 19K 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 Fairbanks North Star Borough’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 2a is Eielson AFB's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Eielson AFB's 114-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Eielson AFB
Each reading below is measured for Eielson AFB itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEielson AFB runs about 114 days between hard freezes (read from Fairbanks North Star Borough, the closest normal to Eielson AFB) — 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
MeasuredEielson AFB sits in USDA hardiness zone 2a.
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 Eielson AFB
Plants matched to Eielson AFB's USDA zones 2a, 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 Eielson AFB?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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.
What's on the federal record near Eielson AFB
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Eielson AFB. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EIELSON AIR FORCE BASESuperfund · 1800 ft
- FD00300311ADAB1 008Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- FD00300311ADCD1 004Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- FD00300311DAAB1 006Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- EIELSON AIR FORCE BASEToxics Release Inventory · 0.9 mi
- EIELSON AIR FORCE BASEBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- FD00300311CAAB1 002Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- FD00300314AABB1 008Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- FD00300311BACB1 001Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- FD00300314ABAD1 009Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- FD00300314DABB1 013Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- FD00300314ADCC1 001Nitrate · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Eielson AFB'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 Eielson AFB.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Eielson AFB
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Eielson AFB
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Eielson AFB, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 36 sites within ~10 miles of Eielson AFB. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Eielson AFB
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 Eielson AFB average
Your land is one point inside Eielson AFB
Everything above resolves to Eielson AFB as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 19K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Fairbanks North Star 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 Eielson AFB Average
Eielson AFB Average
- ●USDA Zones 2a, averaged across Eielson AFB
- ●One soil character for all of Eielson AFB
- ●Frost dates read at Eielson AFB's scale: May 16 to Sep 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Eielson AFB's 2a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Eielson AFB
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Eielson AFB, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Eielson AFB averages can't show:
We read public map data around Eielson AFB — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Eielson AFB average
How we know this about Eielson AFB
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 Fairbanks North Star 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 Eielson AFB
When does frost risk typically end in Eielson AFB?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Eielson AFB 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.
When is the first frost in Eielson AFB?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Eielson AFB typically arrives around Sep 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 24, so the watching starts about Aug 8 — about 114 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Eielson AFB?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Eielson AFB 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 Eielson AFB?
The federal record around Eielson AFB is a meaningful one — 66 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (36), the nearest Superfund record about 0.3 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 Eielson AFB?
With about 114 frost-free days between hard freezes, Eielson AFB 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 Eielson AFB's scale — its 2a band and its 114-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Eielson AFB'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 Eielson AFB’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Eielson AFB's own scale — the 19,132 acres it covers and 66 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Eielson AFB's own USDA hardiness band, zones 2aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 66 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Eielson AFB, the closest Superfund record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Eielson AFB's boundary and the 19,132 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Eielson AFB has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Fairbanks North Star Borough
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Eielson AFB's 19,132 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fairbanks North Star 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 Fairbanks North Star 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 Fairbanks North Star County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Eielson AFB's 19,132 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Eielson AFB you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 19,132 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund record about 0.3 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 Eielson AFB-wide figureread your own land →