South Hutchinson, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in South Hutchinson, 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 South Hutchinson 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 South Hutchinson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Hutchinson — the short answer
South Hutchinson, Kansas: USDA zone 6b, about 217 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~217
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 6b is South Hutchinson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Hutchinson's 217-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Hutchinson
Each reading below is measured for South Hutchinson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouth Hutchinson runs about 217 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredSouth Hutchinson sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 South Hutchinson is in
South Hutchinson sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at South Hutchinson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Reno County.
What Grows in South Hutchinson
Every plant below cleared South Hutchinson's own zone 6b and its 217-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Hutchinson?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near South Hutchinson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Hutchinson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 23S 06W 26ADC 01Nitrate · 400 ft
- GREAT PLAINS HONDA YAMAHABrownfields · 1400 ft
- ALS HONDA YAMAHAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CASEY'S GENERAL STORE - #1854Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SEVEN-UP HUTCHINSON WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- DOSKOCIL FOODS ATTN G BEAUSHAWUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- RENO TECHNOLOGYToxics Release Inventory · 2200 ft
- KWIK SHOP #768Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- TYSON PREPARED FOODS - SOUTH HUTCHINSON, KSToxics Release Inventory · 2400 ft
- TYSON PREPARED FOODS - SOUTH HUTCHINSON, KSBrownfields · 2400 ft
- ELEVATOR """"C""""Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- PIONEER HI-BRED INTERNATIONALUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Hutchinson'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 South Hutchinson.
Total Sites
591
within ~10 miles of South Hutchinson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Hutchinson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Hutchinson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Hutchinson, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 208 sites within ~10 miles of South Hutchinson. 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 South Hutchinson
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 South Hutchinson average
Your land is one point inside South Hutchinson
Everything above resolves to South Hutchinson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 South Hutchinson Average
South Hutchinson Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across South Hutchinson
- ●One soil character for all of South Hutchinson
- ●Frost dates read at South Hutchinson's scale: Apr 1 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Hutchinson's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Hutchinson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Hutchinson, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Hutchinson averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Hutchinson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Hutchinson average
How we know this about South Hutchinson
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 South Hutchinson’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 South Hutchinson
When does frost risk typically end in South Hutchinson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Hutchinson typically lands around Apr 1, 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 Apr 22.
When is the first frost in South Hutchinson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Hutchinson typically arrives around Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 21, so the watching starts about Oct 5 — about 217 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Hutchinson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Hutchinson sees about 217 frost-free days — roughly Apr 1 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 22 to Oct 21, about 182 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Hutchinson?
The federal record around South Hutchinson is a meaningful one — 591 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (208), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 South Hutchinson?
From about Oct 5 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 Nov 4 (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 Nov 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at South Hutchinson's scale — its 6b band and its 217-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Hutchinson'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 South Hutchinson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at South Hutchinson's own scale — its own ~217-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,820 acres it covers and 591 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Hutchinson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- South Hutchinson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 1 and Nov 4 and the ~217-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 591 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Hutchinson, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Hutchinson's boundary and the 1,820 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~217-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Hutchinson's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Hutchinson's 1,820 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Reno County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Reno 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 Reno County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Hutchinson's 1,820 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Hutchinson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,820 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 South Hutchinson-wide figureread your own land →