Dell, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, okra, cranberry, cilantro, and zucchini all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Dell, 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 Dell 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 Dell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dell — the short answer
Dell, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 111 days between hard freezes, across 286 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~111
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 286 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 Dell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dell's 111-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dell
Each reading below is measured for Dell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDell runs about 111 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredDell 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 Dell is in
Dell sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Dell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Beaverhead County.
What Grows in Dell
Every plant below cleared Dell's own zone 4b and its 111-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dell?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Dell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 13S09W04DCDC01Nitrate · 1300 ft
- DELL AIRPORT CANYON RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- RED ROCK STATION MILEPOST 301.8Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- DELL CENTER LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 13S09W01BCCA01Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- 13S08W30BCD 01Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- Barbara & Judy ClaimsMining · 5.4 mi
- 14S08W05ACB 01Nitrate · 7.2 mi
- 12S08W34AAAC01Nitrate · 7.2 mi
- LIMA GAS N SNACKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- LIMA SCHOOL DIST 12 INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- RALPHS EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
3 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dell'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 Dell.
Total Sites
21
within ~10 miles of Dell
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 mining sites (prospects, none worked)
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dell
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Dell
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 Dell average
Your land is one point inside Dell
Everything above resolves to Dell as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 286 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 Dell Average
Dell Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Dell
- ●One soil character for all of Dell
- ●Frost dates read at Dell's scale: May 30 to Sep 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dell's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dell, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dell average
How we know this about Dell
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 Dell’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 Dell
When does frost risk typically end in Dell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dell typically lands around May 30, 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 Jun 20.
When is the first frost in Dell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dell typically arrives around Sep 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 4, so the watching starts about Aug 19 — about 111 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dell sees about 111 frost-free days — roughly May 30 through Sep 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 20 to Sep 4, about 76 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dell?
The federal record around Dell is light — 21 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (12), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 gardeners stretch the season in Dell?
With about 111 frost-free days between hard freezes, Dell rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 139 to 167 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 30 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Dell's scale — its 4b band and its 111-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dell'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 Dell’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Dell's own scale — its own ~111-day season between 28°F freezes, the 286 acres it covers and 21 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 30 and Sep 18 and the ~111-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 21 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dell, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dell's boundary and the 286 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~111-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dell's own centroid, the Middle RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dell's 286 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Beaverhead County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Beaverhead 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 Beaverhead County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dell's 286 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 286 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Dell-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaDell sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.