Orchard City, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Orchard City, 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 Orchard City 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 Orchard City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Orchard City — the short answer
Orchard City, Colorado: USDA zone 6b, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 6b is Orchard City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Orchard City's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Orchard City
Each reading below is measured for Orchard City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOrchard City runs about 189 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
MeasuredOrchard City sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Orchard City is in
Orchard City sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Orchard City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Delta County.
What Grows in Orchard City
Every plant below cleared Orchard City's own zone 6b and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Orchard City?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 Orchard City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Orchard City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HORIZONS HEALTH CARE & RETIREMENT COMMUNITYBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Silver State ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Gary TharpUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- Stop N Save #5Underground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Red Hat Produce IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- Faes Lil StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- Austin Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- LGRB-Poly 18Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- Delta County School District 50Underground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Crawford SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- CDOT CedaredgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- TH ON STREAM BENCH NR STIRRUP CR RD NR DELTA, CONitrate · 4.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Orchard City'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 Orchard City.
Total Sites
114
within ~10 miles of Orchard City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Orchard City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Orchard City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Orchard City, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Orchard City. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Orchard City
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 Orchard City average
Your land is one point inside Orchard City
Everything above resolves to Orchard City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Orchard City Average
Orchard City Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Orchard City
- ●One soil character for all of Orchard City
- ●Frost dates read at Orchard City's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Orchard City's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Orchard City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Orchard City, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Orchard City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Orchard City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Orchard City average
How we know this about Orchard City
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 Orchard City’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 Orchard City
When does frost risk typically end in Orchard City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Orchard City typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Orchard City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Orchard City typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Orchard City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Orchard City sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 8, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Orchard City?
The federal record around Orchard City is a meaningful one — 114 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (67), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Orchard City?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Orchard City's scale — its 6b band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Orchard City'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 Orchard City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Orchard City's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,373 acres it covers and 114 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Orchard City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Orchard City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 22 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 114 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Orchard City, the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Orchard City's boundary and the 7,373 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Orchard City's own centroid, the Colorado PlateausUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Orchard City's 7,373 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Delta County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Delta 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 Delta County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Orchard City's 7,373 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Orchard City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,373 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Orchard City-wide figureread your own land →
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