Carey, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Carey, 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 Carey 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 Carey — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Carey — the short answer
Carey, Idaho: USDA zone 5b, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 5b is Carey's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Carey's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Carey
Each reading below is measured for Carey itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCarey runs about 148 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
MeasuredCarey 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 Carey is in
Carey sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Carey's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Blaine County is mostly Idaho Batholith. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Carey
Every plant below cleared Carey's own zone 5b and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Carey?
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 Apr 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Carey
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Carey. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CAREY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Carey Properties LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- OLD CAREY MATUR BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SHEEP FARMCAFO · 2200 ft
- ADAMSON'S INC 1Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CASTLES CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- AVONMORE WESTToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- 01S 21E 22BCC1Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 01S 21E 34BDD1Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- ITD Carey Yard #41300Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 01S 21E 23BCB1Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- 01S 21E 14CDB1Nitrate · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Carey'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 Carey.
Total Sites
44
within ~10 miles of Carey
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Carey
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Carey
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Carey, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 32 sites within ~10 miles of Carey. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Carey
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 Carey average
Your land is one point inside Carey
Everything above resolves to Carey 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 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 Carey Average
Carey Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Carey
- ●One soil character for all of Carey
- ●Frost dates read at Carey's scale: May 8 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Carey's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Carey
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Carey, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Carey averages can't show:
We read public map data around Carey — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Carey average
How we know this about Carey
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 Carey’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 Carey
When does frost risk typically end in Carey?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Carey typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Carey?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Carey typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Carey?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Carey sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 19, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Carey?
The federal record around Carey is light — 44 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (32), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Carey?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Carey 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 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 8 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Carey's scale — its 5b band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Carey'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 Carey’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Carey's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,208 acres it covers and 44 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Carey's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Carey's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 3 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 44 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Carey, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Carey's boundary and the 2,208 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Carey 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 Carey's 2,208 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Blaine County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Blaine 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 Blaine County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Carey's 2,208 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Carey you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,208 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Carey-wide figureread your own land →