Minidoka, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Minidoka, 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 Minidoka 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 Minidoka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Minidoka — the short answer
Minidoka, Idaho: USDA zone 6a, about 168 days between hard freezes, across 67 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- 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
- ~168
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 67 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 Minidoka's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Minidoka's 168-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Minidoka
Each reading below is measured for Minidoka itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMinidoka runs about 168 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
MeasuredMinidoka 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 Minidoka is in
Minidoka sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Minidoka's own centroid rather than borrowed from Minidoka County.
What Grows in Minidoka
Every plant below cleared Minidoka's own zone 6a and its 168-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Minidoka?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (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. 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's on the federal record near Minidoka
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Minidoka. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LONGHORN STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- 08S 25E 01CBD1Nitrate · 650 ft
- Union Pacific RR Minidoka MP272Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Union Pacific RR Kimama MP289.8Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- 08S 25E 01DAC1Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 08S 25E 01CBB3Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 08S 25E 01CBB1Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- CAMERON SALES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- PUREGRO CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 08S 25E 11DAD1Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 08S 25E 03DAA1Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 08S 25E 02BBB1Nitrate · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Minidoka'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 Minidoka.
Total Sites
172
within ~10 miles of Minidoka
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Minidoka
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Minidoka
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Minidoka, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 154 sites within ~10 miles of Minidoka. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Minidoka
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 Minidoka average
Your land is one point inside Minidoka
Everything above resolves to Minidoka as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 67 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 Minidoka Average
Minidoka Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Minidoka
- ●One soil character for all of Minidoka
- ●Frost dates read at Minidoka's scale: May 1 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Minidoka's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Minidoka
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Minidoka, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Minidoka averages can't show:
We read public map data around Minidoka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Minidoka average
How we know this about Minidoka
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 Minidoka’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 Minidoka
When does frost risk typically end in Minidoka?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Minidoka typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Minidoka?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Minidoka 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 168 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Minidoka?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Minidoka sees about 168 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Oct 2, about 133 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Minidoka?
The federal record around Minidoka is a meaningful one — 172 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (154), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Minidoka?
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 Minidoka's scale — its 6a band and its 168-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Minidoka'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 Minidoka’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Minidoka's own scale — its own ~168-day season between 28°F freezes, the 67 acres it covers and 172 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Minidoka's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Minidoka's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 16 and the ~168-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 172 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Minidoka, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Minidoka's boundary and the 67 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~168-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Minidoka's own centroid, the Snake River PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Minidoka's 67 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Minidoka County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Minidoka 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 Minidoka County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Minidoka's 67 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Minidoka you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 67 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 Minidoka-wide figureread your own land →