Brady, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Brady, 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 Brady 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 Brady — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Brady — the short answer
Brady, Montana: USDA zone 4a, about 150 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~150
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 4a is Brady's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Brady's 150-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Brady
Each reading below is measured for Brady itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBrady runs about 150 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
MeasuredBrady sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Brady is in
Brady sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Brady's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pondera County.
What Grows in Brady
Every plant below cleared Brady's own zone 4a and its 150-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Brady?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 3 — 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 Brady
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Brady. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PETES REPAIR SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- OLD BRADY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- ROLLING ACRES FARMS INC 803905Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ROSSMILLER FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB S 0Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- KNEE HILL MICROWAVE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HOLLANDSWORTH GRAIN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- HAMMA FAMILY PARTNERSHIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ROY O THOMASUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- MOUNTAIN VIEW COOP BRADYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ULRICHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB S 38Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Brady'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 Brady.
Total Sites
22
within ~10 miles of Brady
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Brady
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Brady
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Brady
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 Brady average
Your land is one point inside Brady
Everything above resolves to Brady 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 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 Brady Average
Brady Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Brady
- ●One soil character for all of Brady
- ●Frost dates read at Brady's scale: May 6 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Brady's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Brady
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Brady, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Brady averages can't show:
We read public map data around Brady — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Brady average
How we know this about Brady
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 Brady’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 Brady
When does frost risk typically end in Brady?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Brady typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Brady?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Brady typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 150 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Brady?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Brady sees about 150 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 19, about 115 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Brady?
The federal record around Brady is light — 22 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (17), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Brady?
From about Sep 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Brady's scale — its 4a band and its 150-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Brady'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 Brady’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Brady's own scale — its own ~150-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,978 acres it covers and 22 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Brady's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Brady's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 3 and the ~150-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 22 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Brady, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Brady's boundary and the 1,978 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~150-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Brady's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Brady's 1,978 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pondera County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pondera 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 Pondera County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Brady's 1,978 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Brady you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,978 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Brady-wide figureread your own land →