Meeker, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Meeker, 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 Meeker 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 Meeker — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Meeker — the short answer
Meeker, Colorado: USDA zone 4b, about 137 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~137
- 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 4b is Meeker's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Meeker's 137-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Meeker
Each reading below is measured for Meeker itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMeeker runs about 137 days between hard freezes — 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
MeasuredMeeker 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
The kind of country Meeker is in
Meeker sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Meeker's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rio Blanco County.
What Grows in Meeker
Every plant below cleared Meeker's own zone 4b and its 137-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Meeker?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Meeker
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Meeker. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Bellaire Rearing UnitUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- PIONEERS MEDICAL CENTERBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Pioneers Medical CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Meeker AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- COLOWYO COAL CO LPToxics Release Inventory · 0.9 mi
- COLOWYO COAL CO LPBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- CDOT MeekerUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Rio Blanco County ShopsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- BLM-WHITE RIVER FIELD OFFICEBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- SPILL 2019-0113Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- Tepee Park RR #210684Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Little Hills WlaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Meeker'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 Meeker.
Total Sites
41
within ~10 miles of Meeker
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Meeker
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Meeker
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Meeker
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 Meeker average
Your land is one point inside Meeker
Everything above resolves to Meeker 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 Meeker Average
Meeker Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Meeker
- ●One soil character for all of Meeker
- ●Frost dates read at Meeker's scale: May 14 to Sep 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Meeker's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Meeker
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Meeker, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Meeker averages can't show:
We read public map data around Meeker — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Meeker average
How we know this about Meeker
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 Meeker’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 Meeker
When does frost risk typically end in Meeker?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Meeker typically lands around May 14, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Meeker?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Meeker typically arrives around Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 14, so the watching starts about Aug 29 — about 137 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Meeker?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Meeker sees about 137 frost-free days — roughly May 14 through Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 4 to Sep 14, about 102 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Meeker?
The federal record around Meeker is light — 41 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (25), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles 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 gardeners stretch the season in Meeker?
With about 137 frost-free days between hard freezes, Meeker 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 165 to 193 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 14 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Meeker's scale — its 4b band and its 137-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Meeker'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 Meeker’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Meeker's own scale — its own ~137-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,297 acres it covers and 41 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Meeker's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Meeker's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 14 and Sep 28 and the ~137-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 41 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Meeker, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Meeker's boundary and the 2,297 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~137-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Meeker's own centroid, the Colorado PlateausUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Meeker's 2,297 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rio Blanco County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rio Blanco 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 Rio Blanco County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Meeker's 2,297 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Meeker you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,297 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 Meeker-wide figureread your own land →
More in Colorado
Wider growing context
What grows across ColoradoMeeker sits outside our named growing regions, so Colorado as a whole is its closest context here.