Golden Valley County, in Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Golden Valley County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Golden Valley County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Golden Valley County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Golden Valley County — the short answer
Golden Valley County, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 150 days between hard freezes, across 752K acres.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~150
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 752K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Golden Valley County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Golden Valley County's 150-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Golden Valley County
Across a year, Golden Valley County accumulates about 1,770 growing degree days above 50°F, about 100 more than the middle Montana county — ahead of 31 of Montana’s 56 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Golden Valley County
Across Golden Valley County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Cabbart, Crago, and Delpoint are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.3–7.9, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Golden Valley County
The USDA soil survey maps 98% of Golden Valley County as well drained — but another 2% drains differently: 1% somewhat poorly drained.
Cabbart is the most extensive named soil at 13% of mapped acres, then Crago (13%) and Delpoint (8%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Golden Valley County
Each reading below is measured for Golden Valley County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Golden Valley County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Golden Valley County runs about pH 7.3–7.9, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredGolden Valley County 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
MeasuredGolden Valley County 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 Golden Valley County is in
Golden Valley County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Northwestern Great Plains (92%) and Middle Rockies (8%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Golden Valley County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Golden Valley County's own USDA zone 4b and its own 150-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile.
Is it too late to plant in Golden Valley County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What gets applied to farmland in Golden Valley County
USGS estimates 45,530 lb of Glyphosate on Golden Valley County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (20,485 lb) and Bromoxynil (5,756 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Golden Valley County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Golden Valley County — 32 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 mining site (prospects, none worked). Historic and active mines that may leach heavy metals like arsenic, lead, and cadmium.
The federal record across Golden Valley County is light. Growing food here starts from a strong position — a quick pass over the map tells you whether any recorded site sits near your land, and if one does, that's information to plant with, not a reason to stop.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Golden Valley County
Closest first, across Golden Valley County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 07N21E05BBC 01Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- 04N20E35DDAC01Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- ROAD MAINT DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- MDOT RYEGATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
- RYEGATE CONOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- BIG COULEE FIELDUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- GOLDEN VALLEY COLONY USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- 06N20E20BBC 01Nitrate · 9.2 mi
- FORMER MWRR RYEGATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.3 mi
- 06N21E22BDA 01Nitrate · 9.6 mi
- GOLDEN VALLEY COLONYCAFO · 9.6 mi
- 09N21E27B 01Nitrate · 10.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Golden Valley County'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 Golden Valley County.
Total Sites
32
across Golden Valley County
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 mining site (prospects, none worked)
Sources Checked
across Golden Valley County
Severity Distribution
across Golden Valley County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Golden Valley County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 20 sites across Golden Valley County. 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 Golden Valley County
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 Golden Valley County average
Your land is one point inside Golden Valley County
Everything above resolves to Golden Valley County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 752K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Golden Valley County Average
Golden Valley County Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Golden Valley County
- ●One soil character for all of Golden Valley County
- ●Frost dates read at Golden Valley County's scale: May 6 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Golden Valley County's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Golden Valley County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Golden Valley County, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Golden Valley County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Golden Valley County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Golden Valley County average
How we know this about Golden Valley County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Golden Valley County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Golden Valley County
When does frost risk typically end in Golden Valley County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Golden Valley County 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.
How long is the growing season in Golden Valley County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Golden Valley County 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 Golden Valley County?
The federal record around Golden Valley County is light — 32 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (20), the nearest Nitrate record about 2.2 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.
Everything above is measured at Golden Valley County's scale — its 4b band and its 150-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Golden Valley County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Montana's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Golden Valley County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Golden Valley County's own scale — its own ~150-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 32 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Golden Valley County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Golden Valley County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~150-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Golden Valley CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 32 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 2.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Golden Valley County's boundary and the 751,630 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~150-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Golden Valley County spans, Northwestern Great Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Golden Valley County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Montana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Montana
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Golden Valley County — the ~150 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Golden Valley County's 751,630 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 32 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Golden Valley Countyread your own land →