Dietrich, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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.
Even in Dietrich, 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 Dietrich 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 Dietrich — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dietrich — the short answer
Dietrich, Idaho: USDA zone 6a, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 207 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 207 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 Dietrich's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dietrich's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dietrich
Each reading below is measured for Dietrich itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDietrich runs about 173 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
MeasuredDietrich 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 Dietrich is in
Dietrich sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Dietrich's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Dietrich
Every plant below cleared Dietrich's own zone 6a and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dietrich?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Dietrich
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dietrich. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Union Pacific RR Dietrich MP304Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Union Pacific RR Dietrich MP314.7Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- 06S 18E 12CAA1 MV-33Nitrate · 950 ft
- DIETRICH MERCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 06S 19E 19CCD1Nitrate · 2.4 mi
- 06S 18E 03BAA1Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- 05S 19E 31AAA1Nitrate · 3.1 mi
- 06S 18E 21DCA1Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- 06S 19E 21CAB1 MV-35Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- 05S 18E 33ABD2Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 05S 18E 33ABD3Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 06S 19E 32BDA1Nitrate · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dietrich'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 Dietrich.
Total Sites
75
within ~10 miles of Dietrich
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dietrich
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dietrich
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dietrich, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 46 sites within ~10 miles of Dietrich. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Dietrich
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 Dietrich average
Your land is one point inside Dietrich
Everything above resolves to Dietrich as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 207 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 Dietrich Average
Dietrich Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Dietrich
- ●One soil character for all of Dietrich
- ●Frost dates read at Dietrich's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dietrich's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dietrich
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dietrich, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dietrich averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dietrich — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dietrich average
How we know this about Dietrich
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 Dietrich’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 Dietrich
When does frost risk typically end in Dietrich?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dietrich typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Dietrich?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dietrich typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dietrich?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dietrich sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 2, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dietrich?
The federal record around Dietrich shows 75 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (46), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Dietrich?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dietrich's scale — its 6a band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dietrich'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 Dietrich’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Dietrich's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 207 acres it covers and 75 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dietrich's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dietrich's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 16 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 75 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dietrich, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dietrich's boundary and the 207 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dietrich's own centroid, the Snake River PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dietrich's 207 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dietrich's 207 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dietrich you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 207 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Dietrich-wide figureread your own land →