Eaton, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Eaton, 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 Eaton 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 Eaton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Eaton — the short answer
Eaton, Colorado: USDA zone 5a, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 5a is Eaton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Eaton's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Eaton
Each reading below is measured for Eaton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEaton runs about 170 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
MeasuredEaton sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Eaton is in
Eaton sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Eaton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Weld County.
What Grows in Eaton
Every plant below cleared Eaton's own zone 5a and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Eaton?
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 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Eaton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Eaton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Eaton Convenience StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- EATON PAINT & BODY SPECIALISTSBrownfields · 600 ft
- Quickie Car WashUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Heritage MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Agfinity Tire and ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Cepex AmericanUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- AGLAND/LAND O'LAKES FEED MILLToxics Release Inventory · 1200 ft
- AGLAND/LAND O'LAKES FEED MILLBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Ray AndersonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- U-Fill-It Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Sky ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- SB00706531CBA1Nitrate · 2000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Eaton'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 Eaton.
Total Sites
729
within ~10 miles of Eaton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Eaton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Eaton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Eaton, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Eaton — CAFO (12 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (50 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Eaton
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 Eaton average
Your land is one point inside Eaton
Everything above resolves to Eaton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Eaton Average
Eaton Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Eaton
- ●One soil character for all of Eaton
- ●Frost dates read at Eaton's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Eaton's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Eaton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Eaton, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Eaton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Eaton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Eaton average
How we know this about Eaton
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 Eaton’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 Eaton
When does frost risk typically end in Eaton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Eaton typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Eaton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Eaton typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Eaton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Eaton sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Sep 29, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Eaton?
The federal record around Eaton is a meaningful one — 729 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (309), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Eaton?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Eaton's scale — its 5a band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Eaton'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 Eaton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Eaton's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,022 acres it covers and 729 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Eaton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Eaton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 13 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 729 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Eaton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Eaton's boundary and the 2,022 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Eaton's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Eaton's 2,022 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 Eaton's 2,022 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Eaton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,022 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 Eaton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Colorado
Growing regions
Nearby growing guides