Ekalaka, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ekalaka, 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 Ekalaka 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 Ekalaka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ekalaka — the short answer
Ekalaka, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 659 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 659 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 Ekalaka's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ekalaka's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ekalaka
Each reading below is measured for Ekalaka itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEkalaka runs about 157 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
MeasuredEkalaka 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 Ekalaka is in
Ekalaka sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ekalaka's own centroid rather than borrowed from Carter County.
What Grows in Ekalaka
Every plant below cleared Ekalaka's own zone 4b and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ekalaka?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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 Ekalaka
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ekalaka. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EKALAKA ELEMENTARY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- SOUTHEAST ELECTRIC COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- FRUIT SERVICE & REPAIR INC MAIN STUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- SILVIS CONOCO USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 02N58E32BAD 02Nitrate · 1800 ft
- CARTER COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- 02N58E32BAD 01Nitrate · 2100 ft
- FRUIT SERVICE & REPAIR INC SR 323Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CROSS W LIVESTOCK LLCCAFO · 1.5 mi
- 02N58E20DAD 01Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- 02N58E20DAA 01Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- 02N58E32BBD 01Nitrate · 3.5 mi
5 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ekalaka'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 Ekalaka.
Total Sites
25
within ~10 miles of Ekalaka
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ekalaka
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ekalaka
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ekalaka, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 16 sites within ~10 miles of Ekalaka. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Ekalaka
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 Ekalaka average
Your land is one point inside Ekalaka
Everything above resolves to Ekalaka as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 659 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 Ekalaka Average
Ekalaka Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Ekalaka
- ●One soil character for all of Ekalaka
- ●Frost dates read at Ekalaka's scale: May 4 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ekalaka's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ekalaka
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ekalaka, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ekalaka averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ekalaka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ekalaka average
How we know this about Ekalaka
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 Ekalaka’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 Ekalaka
When does frost risk typically end in Ekalaka?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ekalaka typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Ekalaka?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ekalaka typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ekalaka?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ekalaka sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 24, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ekalaka?
The federal record around Ekalaka is light — 25 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (16), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Ekalaka?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ekalaka's scale — its 4b band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ekalaka'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 Ekalaka’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ekalaka's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 659 acres it covers and 25 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ekalaka's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ekalaka's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 8 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 25 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ekalaka, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ekalaka's boundary and the 659 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ekalaka's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ekalaka's 659 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Carter County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Carter 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 Carter County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ekalaka's 659 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ekalaka you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 659 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Ekalaka-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaEkalaka sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.