Nicodemus, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Nicodemus, 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 Nicodemus 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 Nicodemus — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Nicodemus — the short answer
Nicodemus, Kansas: USDA zone 6a, about 194 days between hard freezes, across 563 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- 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
- ~194
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 563 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 Nicodemus's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nicodemus's 194-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nicodemus
Each reading below is measured for Nicodemus itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNicodemus runs about 194 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
MeasuredNicodemus 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 Nicodemus is in
Nicodemus sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Nicodemus's own centroid rather than borrowed from Graham County.
What Grows in Nicodemus
Every plant below cleared Nicodemus's own zone 6a and its 194-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nicodemus?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (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. 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 Nicodemus
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nicodemus. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 08S 20W 05CDA 01Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- 08S 20W 20BCA 01Nitrate · 3.3 mi
- 08S 21W 08DCC 01Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- 08S 21W 17ACB 01Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- FRONTIER AG INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- 08S 20W 31ACB 01Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- 07S 21W 02BCC 02Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- 07S 21W 02BCC 03Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- 07S 21W 02BCC 01Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- BILL WORCESTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- 06S 21W 28CCB 01Nitrate · 8.4 mi
- 08S 22W 03BBC 01Nitrate · 8.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nicodemus'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 Nicodemus.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nicodemus
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nicodemus
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nicodemus, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Nicodemus. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Nicodemus
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 Nicodemus average
Your land is one point inside Nicodemus
Everything above resolves to Nicodemus as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 563 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 Nicodemus Average
Nicodemus Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Nicodemus
- ●One soil character for all of Nicodemus
- ●Frost dates read at Nicodemus's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nicodemus's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nicodemus
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nicodemus, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nicodemus averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nicodemus — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nicodemus average
How we know this about Nicodemus
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 Nicodemus’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 Nicodemus
When does frost risk typically end in Nicodemus?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nicodemus typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Nicodemus?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nicodemus 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 194 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nicodemus?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nicodemus sees about 194 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 9, about 159 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nicodemus?
The federal record around Nicodemus is light — 33 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (26), the nearest Nitrate record about 2.0 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 Nicodemus?
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 Nicodemus's scale — its 6a band and its 194-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nicodemus'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 Nicodemus’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Nicodemus's own scale — its own ~194-day season between 28°F freezes, the 563 acres it covers and 33 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nicodemus's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Nicodemus's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 23 and the ~194-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 33 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nicodemus, the closest Nitrate record about 2.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nicodemus's boundary and the 563 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~194-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Nicodemus's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nicodemus's 563 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Graham County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Graham 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 Graham County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nicodemus's 563 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nicodemus you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 563 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 2.0 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 Nicodemus-wide figureread your own land →
More in Kansas
Wider growing context
What grows across KansasNicodemus sits outside our named growing regions, so Kansas as a whole is its closest context here.