Fords Creek Colony, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fords Creek Colony, 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 Fords Creek Colony 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 Fords Creek Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fords Creek Colony — the short answer
Fords Creek Colony, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 160 days between hard freezes, across 111 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- 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
- ~160
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 111 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 Fords Creek Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fords Creek Colony's 160-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fords Creek Colony
Each reading below is measured for Fords Creek Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFords Creek Colony runs about 160 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
MeasuredFords Creek Colony 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 Fords Creek Colony is in
Fords Creek Colony sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Fords Creek Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fergus County.
What Grows in Fords Creek Colony
Every plant below cleared Fords Creek Colony's own zone 4b and its 160-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fords Creek Colony?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Fords Creek Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fords Creek Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 16N22E35DDA 01Nitrate · 2.4 mi
- 15N22E12ADD 01Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- 16N22E05DDB 01Nitrate · 6.4 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB O 6Underground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB N 3Underground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB O 4Underground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB O 5Underground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- 15N23E14BCA 01Nitrate · 8.1 mi
- FINKBEINER ELEVATORUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.4 mi
- 15N21E15BCC 01Nitrate · 8.5 mi
- M R DELANEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
- FOX RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.8 mi
4 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fords Creek Colony'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 Fords Creek Colony.
Total Sites
23
within ~10 miles of Fords Creek Colony
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 mining site (prospects, none worked)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fords Creek Colony
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fords Creek Colony
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 Fords Creek Colony
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 Fords Creek Colony average
Your land is one point inside Fords Creek Colony
Everything above resolves to Fords Creek Colony as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 111 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 Fords Creek Colony Average
Fords Creek Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Fords Creek Colony
- ●One soil character for all of Fords Creek Colony
- ●Frost dates read at Fords Creek Colony's scale: May 1 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fords Creek Colony's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fords Creek Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fords Creek Colony, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fords Creek Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fords Creek Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fords Creek Colony average
How we know this about Fords Creek Colony
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 Fords Creek Colony’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 Fords Creek Colony
When does frost risk typically end in Fords Creek Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fords Creek Colony typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Fords Creek Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fords Creek Colony 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 160 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fords Creek Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fords Creek Colony sees about 160 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 24, about 125 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fords Creek Colony?
The federal record around Fords Creek Colony is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (14), the nearest Nitrate record about 2.4 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 Fords Creek Colony?
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 Fords Creek Colony's scale — its 4b band and its 160-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fords Creek Colony'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 Fords Creek Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fords Creek Colony's own scale — its own ~160-day season between 28°F freezes, the 111 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fords Creek Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fords Creek Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 8 and the ~160-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fords Creek Colony, the closest Nitrate record about 2.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fords Creek Colony's boundary and the 111 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~160-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fords Creek Colony's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fords Creek Colony's 111 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 Fords Creek Colony's 111 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fords Creek Colony you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 111 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 2.4 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 Fords Creek Colony-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaFords Creek Colony sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides