Buhl, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Buhl, 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 Buhl 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 Buhl — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Buhl — the short answer
Buhl, Idaho: USDA zone 7a, about 193 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~193
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 7a is Buhl's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Buhl's 193-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Buhl
Each reading below is measured for Buhl itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBuhl runs about 193 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
MeasuredBuhl sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Buhl is in
Buhl sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Buhl's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Twin Falls County is mostly Northern Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Buhl
Every plant below cleared Buhl's own zone 7a and its 193-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Buhl?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — 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 Buhl
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Buhl. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FIRST FEDERAL SAVINGSUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- LEO L LORTZUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- RANGEN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- GLASS SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- JONES HARDWAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- LANGDON'S INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Buhl City Whse/CIUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- CHEVROLET-GEOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- OASIS STOP N GO #10Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FIELDS 66 SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- ANDY & BOB'S MOTOR COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- AL'S TIRESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Buhl'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 Buhl.
Total Sites
266
within ~10 miles of Buhl
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Buhl
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Buhl
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Buhl, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Buhl — CAFO (33 sites) and Nitrate (172 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Buhl
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 Buhl average
Your land is one point inside Buhl
Everything above resolves to Buhl as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 city 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 Buhl Average
Buhl Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Buhl
- ●One soil character for all of Buhl
- ●Frost dates read at Buhl's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Buhl's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Buhl
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Buhl, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Buhl averages can't show:
We read public map data around Buhl — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Buhl average
How we know this about Buhl
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Buhl’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Buhl
When does frost risk typically end in Buhl?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Buhl typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Buhl?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Buhl typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 193 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Buhl?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Buhl sees about 193 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 11, about 158 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Buhl?
The federal record around Buhl is a meaningful one — 266 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (172), 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 Buhl?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Buhl's scale — its 7a band and its 193-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Buhl'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 Buhl’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Buhl's own scale — its own ~193-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,203 acres it covers and 266 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Buhl's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Buhl's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 25 and the ~193-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 266 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Buhl, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Buhl's boundary and the 1,203 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~193-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Buhl sits in the Snake River Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Buhl's 1,203 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Twin Falls County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Twin Falls County
- The growing challenges every Idaho grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Idaho
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Twin Falls County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Buhl's 1,203 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Buhl you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,203 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 Buhl-wide figureread your own land →
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