What Grows in Ugashik, Alaska

USDA Zones 4b · 162K acres

Ugashik, Alaska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.

Expect cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Ugashik, 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 Ugashik 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 Ugashik — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Ugashik — the short answer

Ugashik, Alaska: USDA zone 4b, about 135 days between hard freezes, across 162K acres of town.

USDA zone
4b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
May 13
Lake and Peninsula Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Sep 25
Lake and Peninsula Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
Days between freezes
~135
Lake and Peninsula Borough normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
Town area
162K 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 Lake and Peninsula Borough’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.

Hardiness Zone Range

4b4b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 4b is Ugashik's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ugashik's 135-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Ugashik

Each reading below is measured for Ugashik itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

From county records

Ugashik runs about 135 days between hard freezes (read from Lake and Peninsula Borough, the closest normal to Ugashik) — 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

Measured

Ugashik 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 Ugashik

Every plant below cleared Ugashik's own zone 4b and its 135-day season. Each card opens that plant's Alaska profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in AlaskaZones 2–11Ugashik's 4b — 2 zones of cold margin.
cranberry, photograph
Alaska cranberry guideZones 2–7Ugashik's 4b — 2 zones of cold margin.
cilantro, photograph
Cilantro in AlaskaZones 2–11Ugashik's 135 days clear the ~35 it needs.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Alaska growing notesZones 2–11Ugashik's 4b — 2 zones of cold margin.
hazelnut, photograph
Growing hazelnut in AlaskaZones 4–9Ugashik's 4b is its exact cold limit.
epazote, photograph
Alaska epazote guideUgashik's 135 days clear the ~60 it needs.
kale, photograph
Kale in AlaskaZones 2–11Ugashik's 4b — 2 zones of cold margin.
blueberry, photograph
Blueberry: Alaska growing notesZones 3–8Ugashik's 4b — 1 zone of cold margin.
shiso, photograph
Growing shiso in AlaskaUgashik's 135 days clear the ~80 it needs.
lentil, photograph
Alaska lentil guideZones 2–11Ugashik's 135 days clear the ~70 it needs.
apple, photograph
Apple in AlaskaZones 3–8Ugashik's 4b — 1 zone of cold margin.
okra, photograph
Okra: Alaska growing notesZones 2–12Ugashik's 135 days clear the ~50 it needs.
rhubarb, photograph
Growing rhubarb in AlaskaZones 2–8Ugashik's 135 days clear the ~60 it needs.
sweet corn, photograph
Alaska sweet corn guideZones 2–11Ugashik's 135 days clear the ~65 it needs.
zucchini, photograph
Zucchini in AlaskaZones 2–11Ugashik's 135 days clear the ~40 it needs.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Alaska growing notesZones 3–8Ugashik's 4b — 1 zone of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in AlaskaZones 2–11Ugashik's 135 days clear the ~70 it needs.
azalea, photograph
Alaska azalea guideZones 4–8Ugashik's 4b is its exact cold limit.
hops, photograph
Hops in AlaskaZones 3–8Ugashik's 4b — 1 zone of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: Alaska growing notesZones 3–10Ugashik's 4b — 1 zone of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in AlaskaUgashik's 135 days clear the ~50 it needs.
lilac, photograph
Alaska lilac guideZones 4–10Ugashik's 4b is its exact cold limit.
American bittersweet, photograph
American bittersweet in AlaskaZones 3–8Ugashik's 4b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Siberian squill, photograph
Siberian squill: Alaska growing notesZones 2–8Ugashik's 4b — 2 zones of cold margin.
blue spruce, photograph
Growing blue spruce in AlaskaZones 2–8Ugashik's 4b — 2 zones of cold margin.
field pea, photograph
Alaska field pea guideZones 2–10Ugashik's 135 days clear the ~60 it needs.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in AlaskaZones 2–7Ugashik's 4b — 2 zones of cold margin.
American elm, photograph
American elm: Alaska growing notesZones 3–9Ugashik's 4b — 1 zone of cold margin.
turnip cover crop, photograph
Growing turnip cover crop in AlaskaZones 2–10Ugashik's 135 days clear the ~40 it needs.
Canada wild rye, photograph
Alaska canada wild rye guideZones 3–8Ugashik's 4b — 1 zone of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Ugashik?

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 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. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.

Environmental Check

No contamination sources found near Ugashik

We checked 9 federal environmental databases and found no recorded contamination sites in this area. A clean starting point for growing.

Your land is one point inside Ugashik

Everything above resolves to Ugashik as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 162K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Lake and Peninsula Borough’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 Ugashik Average

Ugashik Average

  • USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Ugashik
  • One soil character for all of Ugashik
  • Frost dates read at Ugashik's scale: May 13 to Sep 25

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Ugashik's 4b
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Ugashik

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ugashik, Alaska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Ugashik averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Ugashik averages 135Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Ugashik — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ugashik average

How we know this about Ugashik

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 Lake and Peninsula Borough’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 Ugashik

When does frost risk typically end in Ugashik?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ugashik 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 Ugashik?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ugashik 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 Ugashik?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ugashik 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 Ugashik?

No database can certify soil, but the federal record here is clean: we checked all 9 federal contamination source types and found no documented sites within the search radii around Ugashik. That means nothing is on record — not that the land is certified clean — so a one-time soil test is still the way to know your own yard's history.

How do gardeners stretch the season in Ugashik?

With about 135 frost-free days between hard freezes, Ugashik 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 Ugashik's scale — its 4b band and its 135-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ugashik'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 Ugashik’s own scale

3 of the readings below were taken at Ugashik's own scale — the 162,316 acres it covers; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Ugashik's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Ugashik's boundary and the 162,316 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 — Ugashik has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Lake and Peninsula Borough
  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ugashik's 162,316 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake and Peninsula County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake and Peninsula 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 Lake and Peninsula County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ugashik's 162,316 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Ugashik you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 162,316 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How much sun your beds actually get once the trees leaf outmeasuring sun honestly
  • 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 Ugashik-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address

More in Alaska

Wider growing context

What grows across Alaska

Ugashik sits outside our named growing regions, so Alaska as a whole is its closest context here.