Climbing Hill, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Climbing Hill, 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 Climbing Hill 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 Climbing Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Climbing Hill — the short answer
Climbing Hill, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 182 days between hard freezes, across 820 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~182
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 820 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 5a is Climbing Hill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Climbing Hill's 182-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Climbing Hill
Each reading below is measured for Climbing Hill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredClimbing Hill runs about 182 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
MeasuredClimbing Hill sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Climbing Hill is in
Climbing Hill sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Climbing Hill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Woodbury County.
What Grows in Climbing Hill
Every plant below cleared Climbing Hill's own zone 5a and its 182-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Climbing Hill?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Climbing Hill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Climbing Hill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- THE BARNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- WOODBURY CENTRAL SCHOOLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- DAVID OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- WOODBURY COUNTY GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- FORMER GAS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- 087N44W20CAD 08957 1957Nitrate · 4.6 mi
- HOLLY INDUSTRIES INCBrownfields · 4.7 mi
- 087N44W15CBBB 25735 1979IGS CRET Proj D-34Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- 086N45W28CBCC 1924Hornick 1Nitrate · 7.5 mi
- 086N45W28CBCC 1951Hornick 2Nitrate · 7.5 mi
- WESTWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
- FARMERS COOP ELEVATORUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Climbing Hill'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 Climbing Hill.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Climbing Hill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Climbing Hill
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Climbing Hill, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Climbing Hill. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Climbing Hill
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 Climbing Hill average
Your land is one point inside Climbing Hill
Everything above resolves to Climbing Hill as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 820 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 town 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 Climbing Hill Average
Climbing Hill Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Climbing Hill
- ●One soil character for all of Climbing Hill
- ●Frost dates read at Climbing Hill's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Climbing Hill's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Climbing Hill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Climbing Hill, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Climbing Hill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Climbing Hill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Climbing Hill average
How we know this about Climbing Hill
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Climbing Hill’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Climbing Hill
When does frost risk typically end in Climbing Hill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Climbing Hill typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Climbing Hill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Climbing Hill typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 182 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Climbing Hill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Climbing Hill sees about 182 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 3, about 147 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Climbing Hill?
The federal record around Climbing Hill is light — 29 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (17), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Climbing Hill?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Climbing Hill's scale — its 5a band and its 182-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Climbing Hill'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 Climbing Hill’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Climbing Hill's own scale — its own ~182-day season between 28°F freezes, the 820 acres it covers and 29 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Climbing Hill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Climbing Hill's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 17 and the ~182-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 29 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Climbing Hill, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Climbing Hill's boundary and the 820 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~182-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Climbing Hill's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Climbing Hill's 820 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Woodbury County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Woodbury County
- The growing challenges every Iowa grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Iowa
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Woodbury County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Climbing Hill's 820 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Climbing Hill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 820 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 Climbing Hill-wide figureread your own land →
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