Craig, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Craig, 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 Craig 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 Craig — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Craig — the short answer
Craig, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 191 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 191 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 Craig's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Craig's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Craig
Each reading below is measured for Craig itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCraig runs about 170 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
MeasuredCraig 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 Craig is in
Craig sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Craig's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Lewis and Clark County is mostly Middle Rockies. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Craig
Every plant below cleared Craig's own zone 4b and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Craig?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — 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 Craig
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Craig. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- OCONNELLS STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- THE OUTPOSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- BEARTOOTH WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREAUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- BN ROGERS PASS MICROWAVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- CRAIG SCHOOL DIST 25 2509345Underground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- AT & T COMMUNICATIONS CRAIG RADIOUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- NYE S PATTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- LEWIS & CLARK COUNTY SHOP WOLF CREEKUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- BOAT LOFTUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- CANYON STORE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- CRAIG BARUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
- LAYTON RESIDENCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Craig'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 Craig.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Craig
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Craig, Mining runs higher than the national average — 13 sites within ~10 miles of Craig. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Craig
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 Craig average
Your land is one point inside Craig
Everything above resolves to Craig as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 191 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 Craig Average
Craig Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Craig
- ●One soil character for all of Craig
- ●Frost dates read at Craig's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Craig's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Craig
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Craig, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Craig averages can't show:
We read public map data around Craig — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Craig average
How we know this about Craig
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 Craig’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 Craig
When does frost risk typically end in Craig?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Craig typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Craig?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Craig typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Craig?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Craig sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Oct 1, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Craig?
The federal record around Craig is a meaningful one — 29 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (16), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles 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 Craig?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Craig's scale — its 4b band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Craig'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 Craig’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Craig's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 191 acres it covers and 29 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Craig's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Craig's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 15 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 29 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Craig, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Craig's boundary and the 191 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Craig sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Craig's 191 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lewis and Clark County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lewis and Clark 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 Lewis and Clark County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Craig's 191 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Craig you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 191 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Craig-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaCraig sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides