Tetlin, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Tetlin, 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 Tetlin 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 Tetlin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Tetlin — the short answer
Tetlin, Alaska: USDA zone 3a, about 85 days between hard freezes, across 43K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 31
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Aug 24
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~85
- Southeast Fairbanks Census Area normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 43K 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 Southeast Fairbanks Census Area’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 3a is Tetlin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tetlin's 85-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tetlin
Each reading below is measured for Tetlin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsTetlin runs about 85 days between hard freezes (read from Southeast Fairbanks Census Area, the closest normal to Tetlin) — 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
MeasuredTetlin sits in USDA hardiness zone 3a.
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 Tetlin
Plants matched to Tetlin's USDA zones 3a, 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 Tetlin?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 31 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Aug 24 — 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 Tetlin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tetlin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 40 Mile Road HouseUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- ADOTPF - Northway Maintenance StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- USFW - Tetlin Nwf Visitor CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
Measured from Tetlin'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 Tetlin.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tetlin
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Tetlin
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 Tetlin average
Your land is one point inside Tetlin
Everything above resolves to Tetlin as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 43K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Southeast Fairbanks 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 Tetlin Average
Tetlin Average
- ●USDA Zones 3a, averaged across Tetlin
- ●One soil character for all of Tetlin
- ●Frost dates read at Tetlin's scale: May 31 to Aug 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tetlin's 3a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tetlin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tetlin, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tetlin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tetlin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tetlin average
How we know this about Tetlin
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 Southeast Fairbanks 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 Tetlin
When does frost risk typically end in Tetlin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tetlin typically lands around May 31, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Tetlin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tetlin typically arrives around Aug 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 10, so the watching starts about Jul 25 — about 85 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tetlin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tetlin sees about 85 frost-free days — roughly May 31 through Aug 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 21 to Aug 10, about 50 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tetlin?
The federal record around Tetlin is light — 3 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (3), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 8.1 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 Tetlin?
With about 85 frost-free days between hard freezes, Tetlin 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 113 to 141 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 31 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Tetlin's scale — its 3a band and its 85-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tetlin'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 Tetlin’s own scale
3 of the readings below were taken at Tetlin's own scale — the 43,411 acres it covers and 3 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tetlin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 3 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tetlin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 8.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tetlin's boundary and the 43,411 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Tetlin has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Southeast Fairbanks Census Area
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tetlin's 43,411 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Southeast Fairbanks 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 Southeast Fairbanks 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 Southeast Fairbanks County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tetlin's 43,411 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tetlin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 43,411 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 8.1 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 Tetlin-wide figureread your own land →