Fallon, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — 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.
Even in Fallon, 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 Fallon 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 Fallon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fallon — the short answer
Fallon, Montana: USDA zone 4a, about 153 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~153
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Fallon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fallon's 153-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fallon
Each reading below is measured for Fallon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFallon runs about 153 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
MeasuredFallon 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 Fallon is in
Fallon sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Fallon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Prairie County.
What Grows in Fallon
Every plant below cleared Fallon's own zone 4a and its 153-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fallon?
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 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (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's on the federal record near Fallon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fallon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FALLON RANCH COLONYCAFO · 2600 ft
- 12N53E04BB 01Nitrate · 2.9 mi
- MORAST FEEDLOTSCAFO · 3.3 mi
- 13N53E30DABC01Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- 13N53E29ACB 01Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- GERALD SCHROEBERCAFO · 5.1 mi
- 13N52E05CACB01Nitrate · 5.4 mi
- 12N52E18CB 01Nitrate · 5.9 mi
- BN FALLON DEPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- RICHARD HESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- AT & T COMMUNICATIONS FALLONUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- UNIT 287 BUFFALO RAPIDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fallon'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 Fallon.
Total Sites
36
within ~10 miles of Fallon
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fallon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fallon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fallon, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Fallon — CAFO (3 sites) and Nitrate (14 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Fallon
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 Fallon average
Your land is one point inside Fallon
Everything above resolves to Fallon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Fallon Average
Fallon Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Fallon
- ●One soil character for all of Fallon
- ●Frost dates read at Fallon's scale: May 3 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fallon's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fallon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fallon, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fallon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fallon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fallon average
How we know this about Fallon
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 Fallon’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 Fallon
When does frost risk typically end in Fallon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fallon typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Fallon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fallon typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 153 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fallon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fallon sees about 153 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 19, about 118 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fallon?
The federal record around Fallon is light — 36 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (19), the nearest CAFO record about 0.5 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 I protect my plants from frost in Fallon?
From about Sep 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fallon's scale — its 4a band and its 153-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fallon'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 Fallon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fallon's own scale — its own ~153-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,251 acres it covers and 36 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fallon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fallon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 3 and the ~153-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 36 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fallon, the closest CAFO record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fallon's boundary and the 3,251 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~153-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fallon's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fallon's 3,251 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Prairie County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Prairie 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 Prairie County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fallon's 3,251 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fallon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,251 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest CAFO record about 0.5 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 Fallon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Growing region
Nearby growing guides