Four Mile Road, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 2a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, potato, rhubarb, and kale. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Four Mile Road, 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 Four Mile Road 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 Four Mile Road — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Four Mile Road — the short answer
Four Mile Road, Alaska: USDA zone 2a, about 118 days between hard freezes, across 725 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 2a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 15
- Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 10
- Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~118
- Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 725 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 Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 2a is Four Mile Road's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Four Mile Road's 118-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Four Mile Road
Each reading below is measured for Four Mile Road itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsFour Mile Road runs about 118 days between hard freezes (read from Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, the closest normal to Four Mile Road) — 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
MeasuredFour Mile Road 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 Four Mile Road
Plants matched to Four Mile Road'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 Four Mile Road?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 10 — 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 Four Mile Road
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Four Mile Road. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Monderosa BarUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- CROWLEY PETROLEUM DISTRIBUTION SITEBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- Yutana Barge Lines Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Alaska Railroad Corporation ARRCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Alaska Railroad Corporation (arrc)Underground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- City Of NenanaUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- RUBY MARINE INCBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- INLAND BARGE SERVICEBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- Wayne E. TaylorUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- Nenana Fuel Co. Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- A-Frame ServicesUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- ADOTPF - Nenana Maintenance StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Four Mile Road'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 Four Mile Road.
Total Sites
22
within ~10 miles of Four Mile Road
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Four Mile Road
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •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 Four Mile Road
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 Four Mile Road average
Your land is one point inside Four Mile Road
Everything above resolves to Four Mile Road as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 725 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area’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 Four Mile Road Average
Four Mile Road Average
- ●USDA Zones 2a, averaged across Four Mile Road
- ●One soil character for all of Four Mile Road
- ●Frost dates read at Four Mile Road's scale: May 15 to Sep 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Four Mile Road's 2a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Four Mile Road
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Four Mile Road, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Four Mile Road averages can't show:
We read public map data around Four Mile Road — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Four Mile Road average
How we know this about Four Mile Road
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 Yukon-Koyukuk 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 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 Four Mile Road
When does frost risk typically end in Four Mile Road?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Four Mile Road typically lands around May 15, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Four Mile Road?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Four Mile Road typically arrives around Sep 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 27, so the watching starts about Aug 11 — about 118 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Four Mile Road?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Four Mile Road sees about 118 frost-free days — roughly May 15 through Sep 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 5 to Aug 27, about 83 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Four Mile Road?
The federal record around Four Mile Road is a meaningful one — 22 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (16), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Four Mile Road?
With about 118 frost-free days between hard freezes, Four Mile Road 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 15 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Four Mile Road's scale — its 2a band and its 118-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Four Mile Road'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 Four Mile Road’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Four Mile Road's own scale — the 725 acres it covers and 22 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Four Mile Road's own USDA hardiness band, zones 2aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 22 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Four Mile Road, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Four Mile Road's boundary and the 725 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Four Mile Road has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Four Mile Road's 725 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Yukon-Koyukuk 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 Yukon-Koyukuk 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 Yukon-Koyukuk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Four Mile Road's 725 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Four Mile Road you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 725 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Four Mile Road-wide figureread your own land →