Ness City, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — 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, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ness City, 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 Ness City 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 Ness City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ness City — the short answer
Ness City, Kansas: USDA zone 6a, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 931 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~190
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 931 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 Ness City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ness City's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ness City
Each reading below is measured for Ness City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNess City runs about 190 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
MeasuredNess City 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 Ness City is in
Ness City sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ness City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ness County.
What Grows in Ness City
Every plant below cleared Ness City's own zone 6a and its 190-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ness City?
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 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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 Ness City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ness City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHEYENNE OIL SVC INCBrownfields · 100 ft
- BUTTERFIELD, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- WESTERN FUEL & SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- PERRY'S BODY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- PAULS 66 SERVUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- NESS CO, ENGINEERING OFCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- HEMBREE WELL SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- HOME OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- USD 303 NESS CITYBrownfields · 1200 ft
- GENE'S SHAMROCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CENTEL CORP.Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- INLAND CRUDEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ness City'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 Ness City.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ness City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ness City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ness City, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Ness City. 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 Ness City
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 Ness City average
Your land is one point inside Ness City
Everything above resolves to Ness City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 931 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 Ness City Average
Ness City Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Ness City
- ●One soil character for all of Ness City
- ●Frost dates read at Ness City's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ness City's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ness City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ness City, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ness City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ness City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ness City average
How we know this about Ness City
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 Ness City’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 Ness City
When does frost risk typically end in Ness City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ness City typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Ness City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ness City typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 190 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ness City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ness City sees about 190 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 9, about 155 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ness City?
The federal record around Ness City shows 76 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (38), the nearest Brownfields 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 Ness City?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ness City's scale — its 6a band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ness City'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 Ness City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ness City's own scale — its own ~190-day season between 28°F freezes, the 931 acres it covers and 76 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ness City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ness City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 23 and the ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 76 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ness City, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ness City's boundary and the 931 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ness City's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ness City's 931 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ness County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ness 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 Ness County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ness City's 931 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ness City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 931 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Ness City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Kansas
Wider growing context
What grows across KansasNess City sits outside our named growing regions, so Kansas as a whole is its closest context here.