Berthoud, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Berthoud, 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 Berthoud 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 Berthoud — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Berthoud — the short answer
Berthoud, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 8K 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 Berthoud's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Berthoud's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Berthoud
Each reading below is measured for Berthoud itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBerthoud runs about 175 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
MeasuredBerthoud 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 Berthoud is in
Berthoud sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Berthoud's own centroid rather than borrowed from Weld County.
What Grows in Berthoud
Every plant below cleared Berthoud's own zone 5b and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Berthoud?
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 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Berthoud
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Berthoud. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Wilson FarmsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- AT&T Co2340Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- NOBLE ENERGY PLATTEVILLE YARDBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- BAE SYSTEMS CONTAINER SOLUTIONS, INC.Brownfields · 1.8 mi
- Love's Travel Stop #668Underground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- FEDEX FREIGHT NDVBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- BERTHOUD TOWN OFPFAS · 3.6 mi
- JOHNSTOWN TOWN OFPFAS · 3.6 mi
- BOULDER SCIENTIFIC CO - MEAD FACILITYBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- BOULDER SCIENTIFIC CO - MEAD FACILITYToxics Release Inventory · 3.6 mi
- COLORADO SWEET GOLD LLCToxics Release Inventory · 3.7 mi
- CHRONOPOL INCToxics Release Inventory · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Berthoud'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 Berthoud.
Total Sites
418
within ~10 miles of Berthoud
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Berthoud
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Berthoud
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Berthoud, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Berthoud — CAFO (8 sites) and PFAS (6 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.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Berthoud
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 Berthoud average
Your land is one point inside Berthoud
Everything above resolves to Berthoud as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 8K 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 Berthoud Average
Berthoud Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Berthoud
- ●One soil character for all of Berthoud
- ●Frost dates read at Berthoud's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Berthoud's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Berthoud
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Berthoud, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Berthoud averages can't show:
We read public map data around Berthoud — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Berthoud average
How we know this about Berthoud
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 Berthoud’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 Berthoud
When does frost risk typically end in Berthoud?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Berthoud typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Berthoud?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Berthoud typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Berthoud?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Berthoud sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Sep 30, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Berthoud?
The federal record around Berthoud is a meaningful one — 418 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (173), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 I protect my plants from frost in Berthoud?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Berthoud's scale — its 5b band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Berthoud'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 Berthoud’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Berthoud's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 8,317 acres it covers and 418 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Berthoud's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Berthoud's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 14 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 418 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Berthoud, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Berthoud's boundary and the 8,317 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Berthoud's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Berthoud's 8,317 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Weld County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Weld 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 Weld County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Berthoud's 8,317 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Berthoud you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,317 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Berthoud-wide figureread your own land →
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