Ucon, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ucon, 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 Ucon 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 Ucon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ucon — the short answer
Ucon, Idaho: USDA zone 5b, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 584 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 584 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 Ucon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ucon's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ucon
Each reading below is measured for Ucon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredUcon 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
MeasuredUcon 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 Ucon is in
Ucon sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Ucon's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Bonneville County is mostly Middle Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Ucon
Every plant below cleared Ucon'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 Ucon?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — 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 Ucon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ucon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UCON MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- UCON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- IDAHO BISHOPS CENTRALUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Snake River Plains PotatoesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- UCON PRODUCE INC 1Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CLAYTON TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Good 2 GoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- UCON WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- CIVES STEEL IDAHOToxics Release Inventory · 2400 ft
- CIVES STEEL IDAHOBrownfields · 2400 ft
- SINCLAIR RETAIL 1Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 03N 38E 22BAB1Nitrate · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ucon'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 Ucon.
Total Sites
531
within ~10 miles of Ucon
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ucon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ucon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ucon, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 372 sites within ~10 miles of Ucon. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Ucon
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 Ucon average
Your land is one point inside Ucon
Everything above resolves to Ucon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 584 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 Ucon Average
Ucon Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Ucon
- ●One soil character for all of Ucon
- ●Frost dates read at Ucon's scale: May 6 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ucon's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ucon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ucon, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ucon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ucon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ucon average
How we know this about Ucon
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 Ucon’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 Ucon
When does frost risk typically end in Ucon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ucon typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Ucon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ucon typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ucon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ucon sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 20, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ucon?
The federal record around Ucon is a meaningful one — 531 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (372), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Ucon?
From about Sep 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ucon's scale — its 5b band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ucon'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 Ucon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ucon's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 584 acres it covers and 531 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ucon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ucon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 4 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 531 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ucon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ucon's boundary and the 584 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Ucon 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 Ucon's 584 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bonneville County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bonneville 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 Bonneville County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ucon's 584 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ucon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 584 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Ucon-wide figureread your own land →