Esbon, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Esbon, 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 Esbon 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 Esbon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Esbon — the short answer
Esbon, Kansas: USDA zone 6a, about 185 days between hard freezes, across 180 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- 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
- 180 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 6a is Esbon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Esbon's 185-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Esbon
Each reading below is measured for Esbon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEsbon 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
MeasuredEsbon sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Esbon is in
Esbon sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Esbon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jewell County.
What Grows in Esbon
Every plant below cleared Esbon's own zone 6a and its 185-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Esbon?
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 Esbon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Esbon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ESBON OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- ESBON OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- ESBON GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- 03S 10W 03ADD 01Nitrate · 800 ft
- 02S 10W 34DAC 01Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 02S 10W 34DAA 01Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 03S 10W 24BAB 01Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- 02S 10W 31CCB 01Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 03S 10W 28DDD 01Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- 02S 09W 28CBB 01Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 02S 10W 12BAB 01Nitrate · 5.6 mi
- JEWELL COUNTY FEEDERS, LLCCAFO · 6.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Esbon'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 Esbon.
Total Sites
49
within ~10 miles of Esbon
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Esbon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Esbon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Esbon, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 34 sites within ~10 miles of Esbon. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Esbon
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 Esbon average
Your land is one point inside Esbon
Everything above resolves to Esbon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 180 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 Esbon Average
Esbon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Esbon
- ●One soil character for all of Esbon
- ●Frost dates read at Esbon's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Esbon's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Esbon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Esbon, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Esbon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Esbon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Esbon average
How we know this about Esbon
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 Esbon’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 Esbon
When does frost risk typically end in Esbon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Esbon 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 Esbon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Esbon 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 Esbon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Esbon 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 Esbon?
The federal record around Esbon is light — 49 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (34), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Esbon?
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 Esbon's scale — its 6a band and its 185-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Esbon'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 Esbon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Esbon's own scale — its own ~185-day season between 28°F freezes, the 180 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Esbon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Esbon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 19 and the ~185-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Esbon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Esbon's boundary and the 180 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~185-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Esbon's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Esbon's 180 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jewell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jewell County
- The growing challenges every Kansas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Kansas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Jewell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Esbon's 180 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Esbon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 180 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Esbon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Kansas
Wider growing context
What grows across KansasEsbon sits outside our named growing regions, so Kansas as a whole is its closest context here.