Oakley, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Oakley, 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 Oakley 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 Oakley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oakley — the short answer
Oakley, Idaho: USDA zone 6b, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 6b is Oakley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oakley's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oakley
Each reading below is measured for Oakley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOakley runs about 175 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
MeasuredOakley 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 Oakley is in
Oakley sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Oakley's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Cassia County is mostly Northern Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Oakley
Every plant below cleared Oakley's own zone 6b and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oakley?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Oakley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oakley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- T R SMITHUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- OAKLEY BUS COMPOUNDUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- USFS BOSTTETER GUARD STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- ELMO WOODHOUSE & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Jones PalletUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Searle'sUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- OAKLEY HIGHWAY DIST 379Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- 13S 22E 33DDA1Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- K&D FarmsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- 13S 22E 31AAA1Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- BEDKE FEEDLOTCAFO · 1.9 mi
- 13S 22E 21CCD2Nitrate · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oakley'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 Oakley.
Total Sites
57
within ~10 miles of Oakley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oakley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oakley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oakley, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Oakley — Superfund (3 sites) and Nitrate (36 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Oakley
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 Oakley average
Your land is one point inside Oakley
Everything above resolves to Oakley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Oakley Average
Oakley Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Oakley
- ●One soil character for all of Oakley
- ●Frost dates read at Oakley's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oakley's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oakley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oakley, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oakley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oakley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oakley average
How we know this about Oakley
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 Oakley’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 Oakley
When does frost risk typically end in Oakley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oakley typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Oakley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oakley typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oakley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oakley sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Oct 5, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oakley?
The federal record around Oakley is a meaningful one — 57 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (36), 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 Oakley?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Oakley's scale — its 6b band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oakley'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 Oakley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Oakley's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,959 acres it covers and 57 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oakley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Oakley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 19 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 57 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oakley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oakley's boundary and the 2,959 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Oakley sits in the Snake River Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oakley's 2,959 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cassia County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cassia 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 Cassia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oakley's 2,959 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oakley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,959 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 Oakley-wide figureread your own land →
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