Marble Rock, 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.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Marble Rock, 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 Marble Rock 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 Marble Rock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Marble Rock — the short answer
Marble Rock, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 187 days between hard freezes, across 532 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~187
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 532 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 Marble Rock's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Marble Rock's 187-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Marble Rock
Each reading below is measured for Marble Rock itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMarble Rock runs about 187 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
MeasuredMarble Rock 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 Marble Rock is in
Marble Rock sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Marble Rock's own centroid rather than borrowed from Floyd County.
What Grows in Marble Rock
Every plant below cleared Marble Rock's own zone 5a and its 187-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Marble Rock?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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 Marble Rock
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Marble Rock. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FORMER SHOOK AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- STOP-N-SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- 094N17W16BBAA 1926Marble Rock 1Nitrate · 900 ft
- 094N17W16BBAA 1920Marble Rock 2Nitrate · 900 ft
- MARBLE ROCK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FLOYD PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 094N17W10CDD 20364 1968Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- GREENE FARM EQUIP & AGRIC COUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- RANARD SEEGERS IMP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- DONOVAN D MARSHUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- GENE HANSENUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- BUTLER CO SHEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Marble Rock'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 Marble Rock.
Total Sites
70
within ~10 miles of Marble Rock
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Marble Rock
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Marble Rock
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Marble Rock, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 20 sites within ~10 miles of Marble Rock. 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 Marble Rock
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 Marble Rock average
Your land is one point inside Marble Rock
Everything above resolves to Marble Rock as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 532 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 Marble Rock Average
Marble Rock Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Marble Rock
- ●One soil character for all of Marble Rock
- ●Frost dates read at Marble Rock's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Marble Rock's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Marble Rock
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Marble Rock, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Marble Rock averages can't show:
We read public map data around Marble Rock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Marble Rock average
How we know this about Marble Rock
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 Marble Rock’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 Marble Rock
When does frost risk typically end in Marble Rock?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Marble Rock typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Marble Rock?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Marble Rock typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 187 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Marble Rock?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Marble Rock sees about 187 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 5, about 152 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Marble Rock?
The federal record around Marble Rock shows 70 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (40), 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 Marble Rock?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Marble Rock's scale — its 5a band and its 187-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Marble Rock'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 Marble Rock’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Marble Rock's own scale — its own ~187-day season between 28°F freezes, the 532 acres it covers and 70 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Marble Rock's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Marble Rock's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 19 and the ~187-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 70 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Marble Rock, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Marble Rock's boundary and the 532 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~187-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Marble Rock'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 Marble Rock's 532 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Floyd County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Floyd 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 Floyd County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Marble Rock's 532 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Marble Rock you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 532 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 Marble Rock-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaMarble Rock sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.