Groveland, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Groveland, 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 Groveland 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 Groveland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Groveland — the short answer
Groveland, Idaho: USDA zone 5b, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 5b is Groveland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Groveland's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Groveland
Each reading below is measured for Groveland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGroveland runs about 166 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
MeasuredGroveland 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 Groveland is in
Groveland sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Groveland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bingham County.
What Grows in Groveland
Every plant below cleared Groveland's own zone 5b and its 166-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Groveland?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Groveland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Groveland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GROVELAND MERCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 02S 35E 28BCDA2Nitrate · 1800 ft
- 02S 35E 28BCDA1-DESTROYEDNitrate · 1900 ft
- 02S 35E 20CDC1Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- BINGHAM CO-OP-CENEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- GRAIN CRAFT BLACKFOOTToxics Release Inventory · 1.3 mi
- DON KORTHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- D & D TRUCKING INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- GAS AND SCRUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- 02S 35E 33BCDC1Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- ITD BLACKFOOT #51300Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- Basic American Potato CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Groveland'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 Groveland.
Total Sites
249
within ~10 miles of Groveland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Groveland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Groveland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Groveland, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Groveland — CAFO (7 sites) and Nitrate (120 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Groveland
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 Groveland average
Your land is one point inside Groveland
Everything above resolves to Groveland 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 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 Groveland Average
Groveland Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Groveland
- ●One soil character for all of Groveland
- ●Frost dates read at Groveland's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Groveland's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Groveland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Groveland, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Groveland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Groveland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Groveland average
How we know this about Groveland
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 Groveland’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 Groveland
When does frost risk typically end in Groveland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Groveland typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Groveland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Groveland typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 166 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Groveland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Groveland sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 28, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Groveland?
The federal record around Groveland is a meaningful one — 249 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (120), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles 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 Groveland?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Groveland's scale — its 5b band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Groveland'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 Groveland’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Groveland's own scale — its own ~166-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,470 acres it covers and 249 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Groveland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Groveland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 12 and the ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 249 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Groveland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Groveland's boundary and the 1,470 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Groveland's own centroid, the Snake River PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Groveland's 1,470 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bingham County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bingham 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 Bingham County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Groveland's 1,470 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Groveland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,470 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Groveland-wide figureread your own land →