Denton, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Denton, 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 Denton 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 Denton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Denton — the short answer
Denton, Montana: USDA zone 4a, about 142 days between hard freezes, across 456 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~142
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 456 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 Denton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Denton's 142-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Denton
Each reading below is measured for Denton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDenton runs about 142 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
MeasuredDenton 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 Denton is in
Denton sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Denton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fergus County.
What Grows in Denton
Every plant below cleared Denton's own zone 4a and its 142-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Denton?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Denton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Denton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DENTON AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- WOODHALL DISTRIBUTING DENTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- GLASS TRUCKING INC USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- WOODHALL DISTRIBUTINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- MUSICK IMPLEMENT COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- DENTON CITY PUBLIC SWIMMING POOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- DENTON SCHOOL DIST 84Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- SCHMITT LIVESTOCK LLCCAFO · 3.0 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB D 4Underground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB D 03Underground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB D 2Underground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- MT DEPT HWY DENTON SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Denton'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 Denton.
Total Sites
70
within ~10 miles of Denton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Denton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Denton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Denton, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 50 sites within ~10 miles of Denton. 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 Denton
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 Denton average
Your land is one point inside Denton
Everything above resolves to Denton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 456 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 Denton Average
Denton Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Denton
- ●One soil character for all of Denton
- ●Frost dates read at Denton's scale: May 8 to Sep 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Denton's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Denton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Denton, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Denton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Denton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Denton average
How we know this about Denton
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 Denton’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 Denton
When does frost risk typically end in Denton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Denton typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Denton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Denton typically arrives around Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 13, so the watching starts about Aug 28 — about 142 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Denton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Denton sees about 142 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 13, about 107 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Denton?
The federal record around Denton shows 70 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (50), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Denton?
With about 142 frost-free days between hard freezes, Denton 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 170 to 198 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 8 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Denton's scale — its 4a band and its 142-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Denton'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 Denton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Denton's own scale — its own ~142-day season between 28°F freezes, the 456 acres it covers and 70 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Denton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Denton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Sep 27 and the ~142-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 70 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Denton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Denton's boundary and the 456 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~142-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Denton's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Denton's 456 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fergus County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fergus 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 Fergus County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Denton's 456 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Denton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 456 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Denton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaDenton sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides