Newell, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Newell, 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 Newell 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 Newell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Newell — the short answer
Newell, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 185 days between hard freezes, across 808 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- 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
- ~185
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 808 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 Newell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Newell's 185-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Newell
Each reading below is measured for Newell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNewell runs about 185 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
MeasuredNewell 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 Newell is in
Newell sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Newell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Buena Vista County.
What Grows in Newell
Every plant below cleared Newell's own zone 5a and its 185-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Newell?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (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. 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 Newell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Newell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NEWELL COOP ELEVATORUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- DEAN LYMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ISU ALLEE RESEARCH CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- 090N35W17DCCA 05761 1951Newell 3 NorthNitrate · 1700 ft
- 090N35W17DCCD 08105 1956Newell 4 SouthNitrate · 1700 ft
- NEWELL-FONDA HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 1700 ft
- NEWELL-PROVIDENCE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- MERCURY-FRANKLIN STREETSuperfund · 1700 ft
- 090N35W17DCCD NewellNitrate · 1800 ft
- FORMER BILL''S STANDARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- DFS INCToxics Release Inventory · 2300 ft
- Not KnownUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Newell'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 Newell.
Total Sites
130
within ~10 miles of Newell
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Newell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Newell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Newell, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Newell — Toxics Release Inventory (11 sites) and Nitrate (38 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Newell
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 Newell average
Your land is one point inside Newell
Everything above resolves to Newell as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 808 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 Newell Average
Newell Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Newell
- ●One soil character for all of Newell
- ●Frost dates read at Newell's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Newell's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Newell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Newell, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Newell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Newell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Newell average
How we know this about Newell
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 Newell’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 Newell
When does frost risk typically end in Newell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Newell typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Newell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Newell 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 185 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Newell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Newell sees about 185 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 5, about 150 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Newell?
The federal record around Newell is a meaningful one — 130 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (61), 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 Newell?
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 Newell's scale — its 5a band and its 185-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Newell'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 Newell’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Newell's own scale — its own ~185-day season between 28°F freezes, the 808 acres it covers and 130 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Newell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Newell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 19 and the ~185-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 130 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Newell, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Newell's boundary and the 808 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~185-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Newell'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 Newell's 808 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Buena Vista County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Buena Vista 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 Buena Vista County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Newell's 808 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Newell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 808 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 Newell-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaNewell sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides