Rigby, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Rigby, 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 Rigby 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 Rigby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rigby — the short answer
Rigby, Idaho: USDA zone 5b, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Rigby's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rigby's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rigby
Each reading below is measured for Rigby itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRigby runs about 151 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
MeasuredRigby 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 Rigby is in
Rigby sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Rigby's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Rigby
Every plant below cleared Rigby's own zone 5b and its 151-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rigby?
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 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 3 — 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 Rigby
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rigby. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Wells Fargo BankUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- RIGBY MAINUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- JEFFERSON COUNTY COURT HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- US POSTAL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Maverik Country Store #575Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- MAVERIK COUNTRY STORE #152Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- RIGBY GAS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- MAIN STREET AUTO BODYBrownfields · 900 ft
- THREE GRANDMAS/V-1 OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- OLD AUTO-DYNE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Good 2 Go #108Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- GARY TREASUREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rigby'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 Rigby.
Total Sites
172
within ~10 miles of Rigby
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rigby
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rigby
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rigby, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 76 sites within ~10 miles of Rigby. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Rigby
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 Rigby average
Your land is one point inside Rigby
Everything above resolves to Rigby as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Rigby Average
Rigby Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Rigby
- ●One soil character for all of Rigby
- ●Frost dates read at Rigby's scale: May 5 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rigby's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rigby
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rigby, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rigby averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rigby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rigby average
How we know this about Rigby
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 Rigby’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 Rigby
When does frost risk typically end in Rigby?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rigby typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Rigby?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rigby typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rigby?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rigby sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 19, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rigby?
The federal record around Rigby shows 172 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (79), 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 I protect my plants from frost in Rigby?
From about Sep 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rigby's scale — its 5b band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rigby'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 Rigby’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Rigby's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,548 acres it covers and 172 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rigby's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rigby's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 3 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 172 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rigby, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rigby's boundary and the 1,548 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rigby's own centroid, the Snake River PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rigby's 1,548 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 Rigby's 1,548 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rigby you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,548 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 Rigby-wide figureread your own land →