Kit Carson, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kit Carson, 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 Kit Carson 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 Kit Carson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kit Carson — the short answer
Kit Carson, Colorado: USDA zone 5b, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 378 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- 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 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 378 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 Kit Carson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kit Carson's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kit Carson
Each reading below is measured for Kit Carson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKit Carson runs about 171 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
MeasuredKit Carson 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 Kit Carson is in
Kit Carson sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Kit Carson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cheyenne County.
What Grows in Kit Carson
Every plant below cleared Kit Carson's own zone 5b and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Kit Carson?
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 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Kit Carson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kit Carson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CDOT Kit CarsonUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Hill Top TexacoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- D-BrandsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Dorman Renewable Fuels LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Heins Pit StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Trading Post RestaurantUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Cheyenne County Road & Bridge Dist #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Kit Carson School Dist R-1Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Eddies 66 ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- PROSPER RANCH FEEDLOTCAFO · 9.2 mi
Measured from Kit Carson'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 Kit Carson.
Total Sites
10
within ~10 miles of Kit Carson
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kit Carson
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Kit Carson
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 Kit Carson average
Your land is one point inside Kit Carson
Everything above resolves to Kit Carson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 378 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 Kit Carson Average
Kit Carson Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Kit Carson
- ●One soil character for all of Kit Carson
- ●Frost dates read at Kit Carson's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kit Carson's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kit Carson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kit Carson, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kit Carson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kit Carson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kit Carson average
How we know this about Kit Carson
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 Kit Carson’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 Kit Carson
When does frost risk typically end in Kit Carson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kit Carson 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 Kit Carson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kit Carson 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 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kit Carson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kit Carson sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Sep 30, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kit Carson?
The federal record around Kit Carson is light — 10 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (9), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 I protect my plants from frost in Kit Carson?
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 Kit Carson's scale — its 5b band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kit Carson'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 Kit Carson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Kit Carson's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 378 acres it covers and 10 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kit Carson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kit Carson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 14 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 10 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kit Carson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kit Carson's boundary and the 378 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Kit Carson's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kit Carson's 378 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cheyenne County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cheyenne 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 Cheyenne County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kit Carson's 378 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kit Carson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 378 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 Kit Carson-wide figureread your own land →
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