Meyer, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Meyer, 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 Meyer 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 Meyer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Meyer — the short answer
Meyer, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 453 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 453 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 Meyer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Meyer's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Meyer
Each reading below is measured for Meyer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMeyer runs about 176 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
MeasuredMeyer 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 Meyer is in
Meyer sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Meyer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mitchell County.
What Grows in Meyer
Every plant below cleared Meyer's own zone 5a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Meyer?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — 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 Meyer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Meyer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MEYER GARAGE INCBrownfields · 2000 ft
- MEYER GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- SCHAEFER STATELINE SWINECAFO · 4.3 mi
- NORTHERN COUNTRY COOPBrownfields · 4.4 mi
- ADAMS MOTOR COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- CROELL REDI-MIX INC-STACYVILLEToxics Release Inventory · 4.4 mi
- CLIFFS ELECTRICBrownfields · 4.5 mi
- 100N16W31BDDC 42583 1915Stacyville 1Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- K&N MINI MART INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- WHEEL''S SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- CURTS AUTO BODYBrownfields · 4.7 mi
- ITC MIDWEST - MITCHELL COUNTYBrownfields · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Meyer'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 Meyer.
Total Sites
71
within ~10 miles of Meyer
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Meyer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Meyer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Meyer, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Meyer — CAFO (8 sites) and Nitrate (26 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Meyer
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 Meyer average
Your land is one point inside Meyer
Everything above resolves to Meyer as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 453 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 Meyer Average
Meyer Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Meyer
- ●One soil character for all of Meyer
- ●Frost dates read at Meyer's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Meyer's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Meyer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Meyer, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Meyer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Meyer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Meyer average
How we know this about Meyer
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 Meyer’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 Meyer
When does frost risk typically end in Meyer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Meyer typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Meyer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Meyer typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Meyer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Meyer sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Sep 29, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Meyer?
The federal record around Meyer shows 71 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (26), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles 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 Meyer?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Meyer's scale — its 5a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Meyer'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 Meyer’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Meyer's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 453 acres it covers and 71 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Meyer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Meyer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 13 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 71 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Meyer, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Meyer's boundary and the 453 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Meyer'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 Meyer's 453 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mitchell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mitchell 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 Mitchell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Meyer's 453 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Meyer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 453 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Meyer-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaMeyer sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides