Gillett Grove, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Gillett Grove, 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 Gillett Grove 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 Gillett Grove — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gillett Grove — the short answer
Gillett Grove, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 182 days between hard freezes, across 142 acres of city.
- 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
- City area
- 142 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 Gillett Grove's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gillett Grove's 182-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gillett Grove
Each reading below is measured for Gillett Grove itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGillett Grove 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
MeasuredGillett Grove 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 Gillett Grove is in
Gillett Grove sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Gillett Grove's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clay County.
What Grows in Gillett Grove
Every plant below cleared Gillett Grove'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 Gillett Grove?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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. 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 Gillett Grove
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gillett Grove. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GENEVIEVE BURGERUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- CLAY COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- SOUTH CLAY COMM SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- BURGER PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- 095N36W25ACDD 1975Gillett Grove 1Nitrate · 950 ft
- FIELD AG & COBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- IOWA LAKES REGIONAL WATERPFAS · 4.2 mi
- 094N35W17CCC 01064 1938WebbNitrate · 4.3 mi
- 094N35W17CCCC 1941WebbNitrate · 4.5 mi
- JERRY''S SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- 094N35W19ADAA 1974Webb 2Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- 094N35W19ADAA 1956Webb 2Nitrate · 4.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gillett Grove'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 Gillett Grove.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gillett Grove
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gillett Grove
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gillett Grove, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 24 sites within ~10 miles of Gillett Grove. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Gillett Grove
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 Gillett Grove average
Your land is one point inside Gillett Grove
Everything above resolves to Gillett Grove as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 142 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 Gillett Grove Average
Gillett Grove Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Gillett Grove
- ●One soil character for all of Gillett Grove
- ●Frost dates read at Gillett Grove's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gillett Grove's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gillett Grove
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gillett Grove, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gillett Grove averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gillett Grove — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gillett Grove average
How we know this about Gillett Grove
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 Gillett Grove’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 Gillett Grove
When does frost risk typically end in Gillett Grove?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gillett Grove 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 Gillett Grove?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gillett Grove 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 Gillett Grove?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gillett Grove 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 Gillett Grove?
The federal record around Gillett Grove shows 86 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (48), 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 Gillett Grove?
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 Gillett Grove's scale — its 5a band and its 182-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gillett Grove'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 Gillett Grove’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Gillett Grove's own scale — its own ~182-day season between 28°F freezes, the 142 acres it covers and 86 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gillett Grove's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gillett Grove's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 17 and the ~182-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 86 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gillett Grove, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gillett Grove's boundary and the 142 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 Gillett Grove'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 Gillett Grove's 142 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clay County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clay 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 Clay County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gillett Grove's 142 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gillett Grove you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 142 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 Gillett Grove-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaGillett Grove sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides