Elmore County, in Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Elmore County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Elmore County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Elmore County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Elmore County — the short answer
Elmore County, Idaho: USDA zone 6b, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 2.0M acres.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 2.0M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Elmore County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elmore County's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Elmore County
Across a year, Elmore County accumulates about 1,659 growing degree days above 50°F, about 168 more than the middle Idaho county — ahead of 25 of Idaho’s 44 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Elmore County
Across Elmore County, the ground is predominantly Aridisols, where Purdam, Colthorp, and Royal are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.0–7.7, neutral. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Aridisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Elmore County
The USDA soil survey maps 90% of Elmore County as well drained — but another 8% drains differently: 4% somewhat excessively drained, 1% excessively drained.
Purdam is the most extensive named soil at 8% of mapped acres, then Colthorp (4%) and Royal (4%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Elmore County
Each reading below is measured for Elmore County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Elmore County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Elmore County runs about pH 7.0–7.7, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredElmore County runs about 161 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
MeasuredElmore County 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 Elmore County is in
Elmore County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Snake River Plain (50%) and Idaho Batholith (50%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Elmore County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Elmore County's own USDA zone 6b and its own 161-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile.
Is it too late to plant in Elmore County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 gets applied to farmland in Elmore County
USGS estimates 59,370 lb of Glyphosate on Elmore County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor-s (6,877 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (6,877 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Elmore County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Elmore County — 458 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 14 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Elmore County carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Elmore County
Closest first, across Elmore County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MOUNTAIN HOME CITY OFPFAS · 2.6 mi
- FALL CREEK LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Fall Creek MarinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Verdun GroupMining · 7.7 mi
- Lone Pine MineMining · 8.6 mi
- Franklin MineMining · 9.0 mi
- 02N 07E 13CDCB1-DESTROYEDNitrate · 9.0 mi
- DEER CREEK LODGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.0 mi
- 02N 10E 19ABCB1Nitrate · 10.8 mi
- 02S 07E 14ADA1Nitrate · 11.2 mi
- 03S 08E 06BBAA1Nitrate · 14.1 mi
- North Star Lake OccurrenceMining · 15.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Elmore County'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 Elmore County.
Severity Distribution
across Elmore County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Elmore County, two things run higher than the national average across Elmore County — Mining (71 sites) and Superfund (14 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Elmore County
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 Elmore County average
Your land is one point inside Elmore County
Everything above resolves to Elmore County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 2.0M 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Elmore County Average
Elmore County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Elmore County
- ●One soil character for all of Elmore County
- ●Frost dates read at Elmore County's scale: May 4 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elmore County's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Elmore County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elmore County, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elmore County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elmore County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elmore County average
How we know this about Elmore County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Elmore County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Elmore County
When does frost risk typically end in Elmore County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elmore County typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
How long is the growing season in Elmore County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elmore County sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 28, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elmore County?
The federal record around Elmore County runs heavier than most — 458 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (236), the nearest PFAS record about 2.6 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
Everything above is measured at Elmore County's scale — its 6b band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elmore County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Idaho's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Elmore County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Elmore County's own scale — its own ~161-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 458 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elmore County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Elmore County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Elmore CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 458 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest PFAS record about 2.6 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Elmore County's boundary and the 1,968,049 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Elmore County spans, Snake River Plain the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Elmore County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Idaho grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Idaho
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Elmore County — the ~161 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Elmore County's 1,968,049 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 458 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Elmore Countyread your own land →