Ekwok, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Ekwok, 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 Ekwok 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 Ekwok — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ekwok — the short answer
Ekwok, Alaska: USDA zone 4b, about 135 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 13
- Dillingham Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 25
- Dillingham Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~135
- Dillingham Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 11K 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 Dillingham Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 4b is Ekwok's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ekwok's 135-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ekwok
Each reading below is measured for Ekwok itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsEkwok runs about 135 days between hard freezes (read from Dillingham Census Area, the closest normal to Ekwok) — 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
MeasuredEkwok sits in USDA hardiness zone 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 Ekwok
Every plant below cleared Ekwok's own zone 4b and its 135-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ekwok?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Ekwok
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ekwok. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SC00804729DBCD1 001Nitrate · 9.5 mi
- SC00804729DBCD2 001Nitrate · 9.5 mi
Measured from Ekwok'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 Ekwok.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ekwok
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Ekwok
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 Ekwok average
Your land is one point inside Ekwok
Everything above resolves to Ekwok as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 11K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Dillingham Census Area’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this city’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 city 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 Ekwok Average
Ekwok Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Ekwok
- ●One soil character for all of Ekwok
- ●Frost dates read at Ekwok's scale: May 13 to Sep 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ekwok's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ekwok
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ekwok, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ekwok averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ekwok — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ekwok average
How we know this about Ekwok
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Dillingham 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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Ekwok
When does frost risk typically end in Ekwok?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ekwok typically lands around May 13, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Ekwok?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ekwok typically arrives around Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 11, so the watching starts about Aug 26 — about 135 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ekwok?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ekwok sees about 135 frost-free days — roughly May 13 through Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 3 to Sep 11, about 100 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ekwok?
The federal record around Ekwok is light — 4 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (4), the nearest Nitrate record about 9.5 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 Ekwok?
With about 135 frost-free days between hard freezes, Ekwok 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 163 to 191 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 13 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Ekwok's scale — its 4b band and its 135-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ekwok'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 Ekwok’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Ekwok's own scale — the 10,780 acres it covers and 4 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ekwok's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 4 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ekwok, the closest Nitrate record about 9.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ekwok's boundary and the 10,780 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~135-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Ekwok has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Dillingham Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ekwok's 10,780 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dillingham County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dillingham 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 Dillingham County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ekwok's 10,780 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ekwok you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 10,780 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 9.5 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 Ekwok-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaEkwok sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides