Gallatin River Ranch, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, 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 Gallatin River Ranch, 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 Gallatin River Ranch 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 Gallatin River Ranch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gallatin River Ranch — the short answer
Gallatin River Ranch, Montana: USDA zone 5a, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 5a is Gallatin River Ranch's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gallatin River Ranch's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gallatin River Ranch
Each reading below is measured for Gallatin River Ranch itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGallatin River Ranch runs about 147 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
MeasuredGallatin River Ranch sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Gallatin River Ranch is in
Gallatin River Ranch sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Gallatin River Ranch's own centroid rather than borrowed from Gallatin County.
What Grows in Gallatin River Ranch
Every plant below cleared Gallatin River Ranch's own zone 5a and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gallatin River Ranch?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 Oct 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Gallatin River Ranch
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gallatin River Ranch. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 02N03E33DADD01Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- MONTANA DAIRYCAFO · 2.0 mi
- HARLOWS SCHOOL BUS SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- DOUMA TRANSFER INC YADON ROADUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- MANHATTAN SCHOOL DIST 3Underground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- MANHATTAN H SBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- WAREHOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- DOUMA TRANSFER INC N 5THUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- WELLHOUSER YAMAAHAUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- GALLATIN FARMERS CO MANHATTANUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- BIG SKY CARVERS MANHATTANBrownfields · 3.2 mi
- FORMER CASE MACHINERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gallatin River Ranch'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 Gallatin River Ranch.
Total Sites
193
within ~10 miles of Gallatin River Ranch
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gallatin River Ranch
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gallatin River Ranch
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gallatin River Ranch, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 162 sites within ~10 miles of Gallatin River Ranch. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Gallatin River Ranch
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 Gallatin River Ranch average
Your land is one point inside Gallatin River Ranch
Everything above resolves to Gallatin River Ranch as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Gallatin River Ranch Average
Gallatin River Ranch Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Gallatin River Ranch
- ●One soil character for all of Gallatin River Ranch
- ●Frost dates read at Gallatin River Ranch's scale: May 8 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gallatin River Ranch's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gallatin River Ranch
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gallatin River Ranch, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gallatin River Ranch averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gallatin River Ranch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gallatin River Ranch average
How we know this about Gallatin River Ranch
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 Gallatin River Ranch’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 Gallatin River Ranch
When does frost risk typically end in Gallatin River Ranch?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gallatin River Ranch 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 Gallatin River Ranch?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gallatin River Ranch typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gallatin River Ranch?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gallatin River Ranch sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 18, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gallatin River Ranch?
The federal record around Gallatin River Ranch shows 193 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (162), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.8 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 Gallatin River Ranch?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Gallatin River Ranch 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 175 to 203 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 Gallatin River Ranch's scale — its 5a band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gallatin River Ranch'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 Gallatin River Ranch’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Gallatin River Ranch's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,529 acres it covers and 193 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gallatin River Ranch's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gallatin River Ranch's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 2 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 193 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gallatin River Ranch, the closest Nitrate record about 1.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gallatin River Ranch's boundary and the 4,529 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gallatin River Ranch's own centroid, the Middle RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gallatin River Ranch's 4,529 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gallatin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gallatin 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 Gallatin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gallatin River Ranch's 4,529 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gallatin River Ranch you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,529 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.8 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 Gallatin River Ranch-wide figureread your own land →
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