Nelchina, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — 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 Nelchina, 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 Nelchina 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 Nelchina — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nelchina — the short answer
Nelchina, Alaska: USDA zone 4a, about 109 days between hard freezes, across 30K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 21
- Copper River Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 7
- Copper River Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~109
- Copper River Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 30K 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 Copper River Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 4a is Nelchina's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nelchina's 109-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nelchina
Each reading below is measured for Nelchina itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsNelchina runs about 109 days between hard freezes (read from Copper River Census Area, the closest normal to Nelchina) — 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
MeasuredNelchina 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 Nelchina
Plants matched to Nelchina's USDA zones 4a, 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 Nelchina?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 21 (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. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Nelchina
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nelchina. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALASKA DOT & PF NELCHINA MAINTENANCE STATIONBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- CB00200906BBBD1 001Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- Heavenly Ridge OccurrenceMining · 9.4 mi
Measured from Nelchina'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 Nelchina.
Total Sites
4
within ~10 miles of Nelchina
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 mining site (prospects, none worked)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nelchina
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Nelchina
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 Nelchina average
Your land is one point inside Nelchina
Everything above resolves to Nelchina as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 30K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Copper River 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 Nelchina Average
Nelchina Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Nelchina
- ●One soil character for all of Nelchina
- ●Frost dates read at Nelchina's scale: May 21 to Sep 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nelchina's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nelchina
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nelchina, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nelchina averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nelchina — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nelchina average
How we know this about Nelchina
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 Copper River 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 Nelchina
When does frost risk typically end in Nelchina?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nelchina typically lands around May 21, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Nelchina?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nelchina 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 109 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nelchina?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nelchina sees about 109 frost-free days — roughly May 21 through Sep 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 11 to Aug 24, about 74 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nelchina?
The federal record around Nelchina is light — 4 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (2), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.9 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 Nelchina?
With about 109 frost-free days between hard freezes, Nelchina 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 137 to 165 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 21 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Nelchina's scale — its 4a band and its 109-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nelchina'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 Nelchina’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Nelchina's own scale — the 30,333 acres it covers and 4 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nelchina's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 4 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nelchina, the closest Brownfields record about 1.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nelchina's boundary and the 30,333 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Nelchina has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Copper River Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nelchina's 30,333 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Copper River 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 Copper River 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 Copper River County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nelchina's 30,333 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nelchina you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 30,333 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.9 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 Nelchina-wide figureread your own land →
More in Alaska
Wider growing context
What grows across AlaskaNelchina sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides