Redvale, Colorado, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Redvale, 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 Redvale 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 Redvale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Redvale — the short answer
Redvale, Colorado: USDA zone 6a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 6a is Redvale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Redvale's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Redvale
Each reading below is measured for Redvale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRedvale runs about 176 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
MeasuredRedvale sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Redvale is in
Redvale sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Redvale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montrose County.
What Grows in Redvale
Every plant below cleared Redvale's own zone 6a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Colorado profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Redvale?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — 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 Redvale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Redvale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Williams ConstructionUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- NUCLA ASH DISPOSAL SITEToxics Release Inventory · 6.7 mi
- TRI-STATE GENERATION & TRANSMISSION - NUCLA STATIONToxics Release Inventory · 6.8 mi
- TRI-STATE GENERATION & TRANSMISSION - NUCLA STATIONBrownfields · 6.8 mi
- San Miguel County Road DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- Norwood Automotive SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- Norwood Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.2 mi
- Ennis Petroleum IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- Sam's ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- US Forest Service USFSUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
- Montrose County District 3 ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
- LASART LTD HOLOGRAPHIC LABBrownfields · 7.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Redvale'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 Redvale.
Total Sites
33
within ~10 miles of Redvale
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Redvale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Redvale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Redvale, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 25 sites within ~10 miles of Redvale. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Redvale
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 Redvale average
Your land is one point inside Redvale
Everything above resolves to Redvale as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Redvale Average
Redvale Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Redvale
- ●One soil character for all of Redvale
- ●Frost dates read at Redvale's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Redvale's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Redvale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Redvale, Colorado — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Redvale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Redvale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Redvale average
How we know this about Redvale
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 Redvale’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 Redvale
When does frost risk typically end in Redvale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Redvale typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Redvale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Redvale typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Redvale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Redvale sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 3, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Redvale?
The federal record around Redvale is light — 33 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (25), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.5 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 I protect my plants from frost in Redvale?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Redvale's scale — its 6a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Redvale'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 Redvale’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Redvale's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,995 acres it covers and 33 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Redvale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Redvale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 17 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 33 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Redvale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Redvale's boundary and the 2,995 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Redvale's own centroid, the Colorado PlateausUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Redvale's 2,995 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Montrose County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Montrose 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 Montrose County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Redvale's 2,995 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Redvale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,995 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.5 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 Redvale-wide figureread your own land →
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