Atwood, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Atwood, 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 Atwood 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 Atwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Atwood — the short answer
Atwood, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 174 days between hard freezes, across 662 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~174
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 662 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 5b is Atwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Atwood's 174-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Atwood
Each reading below is measured for Atwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAtwood runs about 174 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAtwood sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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
The kind of country Atwood is in
Atwood sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Atwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Logan County.
What Grows in Atwood
Every plant below cleared Atwood's own zone 5b and its 174-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Atwood?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Atwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Atwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Steak HouseUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- SB00705324CCANitrate · 1.1 mi
- TIMMERMAN FEEDING CORPORATIONCAFO · 2.7 mi
- LMR Oil #3Underground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- SB00705317BCB1 NAWQA 17Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- SB00605311CCC NAWQA 16Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- Jerry's Muffler RepairUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- SINCLAIR MARKETING INCBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- MCENDAFFER FEEDYARDCAFO · 3.6 mi
- Riverside CemeteryUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- VALLEY IMPLEMENT COBrownfields · 4.1 mi
- Schmidt ImportsUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Atwood'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 Atwood.
Total Sites
142
within ~10 miles of Atwood
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Atwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Atwood
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Atwood, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Atwood — CAFO (6 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (91 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Atwood
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 Atwood average
Your land is one point inside Atwood
Everything above resolves to Atwood as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 662 acres. 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 Atwood Average
Atwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Atwood
- ●One soil character for all of Atwood
- ●Frost dates read at Atwood's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Atwood's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Atwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Atwood, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Atwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Atwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Atwood average
How we know this about Atwood
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 Atwood’s own record; 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 Atwood
When does frost risk typically end in Atwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Atwood typically lands around Apr 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 May 15.
When is the first frost in Atwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Atwood typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 174 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Atwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Atwood sees about 174 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 1, about 139 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Atwood?
The federal record around Atwood shows 142 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (91), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Atwood?
From about Sep 15 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Atwood's scale — its 5b band and its 174-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Atwood'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 Atwood’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Atwood's own scale — its own ~174-day season between 28°F freezes, the 662 acres it covers and 142 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Atwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Atwood's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 15 and the ~174-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 142 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Atwood, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Atwood's boundary and the 662 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~174-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Atwood's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Atwood's 662 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Logan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Logan County
- The growing challenges every Colorado grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Colorado
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Logan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Atwood's 662 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Atwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 662 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Atwood-wide figureread your own land →
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