Hamer, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hamer, 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 Hamer 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 Hamer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hamer — the short answer
Hamer, Idaho: USDA zone 4b, about 141 days between hard freezes, across 122 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~141
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 122 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 4b is Hamer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hamer's 141-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hamer
Each reading below is measured for Hamer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHamer runs about 141 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
MeasuredHamer sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Hamer is in
Hamer sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Hamer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Hamer
Every plant below cleared Hamer's own zone 4b and its 141-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hamer?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Hamer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hamer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- J&C CORNER BAR & CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- RONS TIRE INC HAMER DBA RONS TIRE FACTORYBrownfields · 400 ft
- DARREL T WILLIAMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- LINFORD FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- HAMER SECTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- 07N 36E 22ABC1Nitrate · 650 ft
- HAMER ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- HAMER RCLR (QGO)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 07N 36E 10BCA1Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- 07N 36E 10AAB1Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- LARSEN OF IDAHO - FRESHUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- 07N 36E 24AAB1Nitrate · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hamer'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 Hamer.
Total Sites
87
within ~10 miles of Hamer
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hamer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hamer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hamer, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 68 sites within ~10 miles of Hamer. 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 Hamer
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 Hamer average
Your land is one point inside Hamer
Everything above resolves to Hamer as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 122 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 Hamer Average
Hamer Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Hamer
- ●One soil character for all of Hamer
- ●Frost dates read at Hamer's scale: May 9 to Sep 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hamer's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hamer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hamer, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hamer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hamer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hamer average
How we know this about Hamer
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 Hamer’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 Hamer
When does frost risk typically end in Hamer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hamer typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Hamer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hamer typically arrives around Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 13, so the watching starts about Aug 28 — about 141 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hamer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hamer sees about 141 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 13, about 106 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hamer?
The federal record around Hamer shows 87 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (68), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Hamer?
With about 141 frost-free days between hard freezes, Hamer 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 169 to 197 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 9 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Hamer's scale — its 4b band and its 141-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hamer'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 Hamer’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hamer's own scale — its own ~141-day season between 28°F freezes, the 122 acres it covers and 87 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hamer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hamer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Sep 27 and the ~141-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 87 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hamer, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hamer's boundary and the 122 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~141-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hamer's own centroid, the Snake River PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hamer's 122 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hamer's 122 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hamer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 122 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 Hamer-wide figureread your own land →