Belfry, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Belfry, 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 Belfry 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 Belfry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Belfry — the short answer
Belfry, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 4b is Belfry's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Belfry's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Belfry
Each reading below is measured for Belfry itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBelfry runs about 157 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
MeasuredBelfry sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Belfry is in
Belfry sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Belfry's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Carbon County is mostly Northwestern Great Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Belfry
Every plant below cleared Belfry's own zone 4b and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Belfry?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Belfry
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Belfry. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BLACKS SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- COUNTRY HOUSE CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CARBON COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- JUNCTION EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 8S-22E-27baa01Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- RED BUTTE PIPE LINE - SILVERTIP STATIONBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- 08S22E02BACC01Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- 08S22E01ADAA01Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- 7S-23E-31ccc01Nitrate · 3.1 mi
- 08S22E34CCCB01Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- Red Lodge WashoeMining · 4.2 mi
- 07S22E23DDBB01Nitrate · 4.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Belfry'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 Belfry.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Belfry
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Belfry
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Belfry, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 28 sites within ~10 miles of Belfry. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Belfry
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 Belfry average
Your land is one point inside Belfry
Everything above resolves to Belfry as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Belfry Average
Belfry Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Belfry
- ●One soil character for all of Belfry
- ●Frost dates read at Belfry's scale: May 1 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Belfry's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Belfry
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Belfry, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Belfry averages can't show:
We read public map data around Belfry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Belfry average
How we know this about Belfry
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 Belfry’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 Belfry
When does frost risk typically end in Belfry?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Belfry typically lands around May 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 May 22.
When is the first frost in Belfry?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Belfry typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Belfry?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Belfry sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 21, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Belfry?
The federal record around Belfry is light — 40 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (28), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Belfry?
From about Sep 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 Oct 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Belfry's scale — its 4b band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Belfry'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 Belfry’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Belfry's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,066 acres it covers and 40 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Belfry's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Belfry's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 5 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 40 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Belfry, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Belfry's boundary and the 1,066 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Belfry sits in the Wyoming Basin — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Belfry's 1,066 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Carbon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Carbon County
- The growing challenges every Montana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Montana
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Carbon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Belfry's 1,066 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Belfry you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,066 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Belfry-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaBelfry sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.