Paul, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Paul, 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 Paul 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 Paul — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Paul — the short answer
Paul, Idaho: USDA zone 6a, about 174 days between hard freezes, across 475 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~174
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 475 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 Paul's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paul's 174-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paul
Each reading below is measured for Paul itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPaul runs about 174 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
MeasuredPaul 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 Paul is in
Paul sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Paul's own centroid rather than borrowed from Minidoka County.
What Grows in Paul
Every plant below cleared Paul's own zone 6a and its 174-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Paul?
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 Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — 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 Paul
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paul. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MISTYS SUPER SAVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- BUTTE IRRIGATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- OASIS STOP N GO #15Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- MINIDOKA COUNTY'S DIST #331Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Paul City ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- MINIDOKA HWY DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ZIP-FER GAS & GROCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- JACK'S SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Union Pacfic RR PaulUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- 09S 23E 32ADC1Nitrate · 2100 ft
- 09S 23E 32ADD1Nitrate · 2200 ft
- LARRY HARPER FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Paul'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 Paul.
Total Sites
503
within ~10 miles of Paul
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Paul
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paul
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Paul, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Paul — Nitrate (240 sites) and CAFO (7 sites). 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.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Paul
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 Paul average
Your land is one point inside Paul
Everything above resolves to Paul as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 475 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 Paul Average
Paul Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Paul
- ●One soil character for all of Paul
- ●Frost dates read at Paul's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paul's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paul
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paul, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paul averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paul — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paul average
How we know this about Paul
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 Paul’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 Paul
When does frost risk typically end in Paul?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Paul typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Paul?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Paul typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 174 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Paul?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Paul sees about 174 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 1, about 139 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Paul?
The federal record around Paul is a meaningful one — 503 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (240), 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 Paul?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Paul's scale — its 6a band and its 174-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Paul'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 Paul’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Paul's own scale — its own ~174-day season between 28°F freezes, the 475 acres it covers and 503 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paul's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Paul's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 15 and the ~174-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 503 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paul, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paul's boundary and the 475 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~174-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Paul's own centroid, the Snake River PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Paul's 475 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 Paul's 475 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paul you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 475 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 Paul-wide figureread your own land →