Elim, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, okra, cranberry, cilantro, and zucchini all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Elim, 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 Elim 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 Elim — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Elim — the short answer
Elim, Alaska: USDA zone 4a, about 118 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 24
- Nome Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 19
- Nome Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~118
- Nome Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Nome Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 4a is Elim's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elim's 118-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Elim
Each reading below is measured for Elim itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsElim runs about 118 days between hard freezes (read from Nome Census Area, the closest normal to Elim) — 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
MeasuredElim sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Elim
Every plant below cleared Elim's own zone 4a and its 118-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Elim?
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 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Elim
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Elim. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ELIMBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- FAA Moses PointUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Unnamed (northeast of mouth of Walla Walla Creek)Mining · 6.5 mi
- Unnamed (near Kwiniuk River)Mining · 7.0 mi
- Unnamed (west of Walla Walla Creek)Mining · 7.5 mi
- Kwiniuk RiverMining · 7.9 mi
- Kwiniuk River OccurrenceMining · 8.3 mi
- Kwinivk RiverMining · 8.3 mi
- USDOT FAA MOSES POINT AIRFIELD NAV AIDSSuperfund · 8.5 mi
- USDOT FAA MOSES POINT AIRFIELD NAV AIDSBrownfields · 8.5 mi
Measured from Elim'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 Elim.
Total Sites
11
within ~10 miles of Elim
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Elim
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Elim
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •A Superfund listing means federally documented contamination. Test soil and water before planting edibles nearby.
Check your specific parcel in Elim
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 Elim average
Your land is one point inside Elim
Everything above resolves to Elim as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 2K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Nome 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 Elim Average
Elim Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Elim
- ●One soil character for all of Elim
- ●Frost dates read at Elim's scale: May 24 to Sep 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elim's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Elim
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elim, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elim averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elim — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elim average
How we know this about Elim
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 Nome 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 Elim
When does frost risk typically end in Elim?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elim typically lands around May 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Elim?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Elim typically arrives around Sep 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 5, so the watching starts about Aug 20 — about 118 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Elim?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elim sees about 118 frost-free days — roughly May 24 through Sep 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 14 to Sep 5, about 83 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elim?
The federal record around Elim is a meaningful one — 11 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (7), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.5 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.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Elim?
With about 118 frost-free days between hard freezes, Elim 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 146 to 174 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 24 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Elim's scale — its 4a band and its 118-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elim'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 Elim’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Elim's own scale — the 1,686 acres it covers and 11 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elim's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 11 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Elim, the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Elim's boundary and the 1,686 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~118-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Elim has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Nome Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Elim's 1,686 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Nome County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Nome 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 Nome County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Elim's 1,686 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Elim you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,686 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.5 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 Elim-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaElim sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides