Gildford Colony, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Gildford 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 Gildford 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 Gildford Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gildford Colony — the short answer
Gildford Colony, Montana: USDA zone 3b, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 491 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 491 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 3b is Gildford Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gildford Colony's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gildford Colony
Each reading below is measured for Gildford Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGildford Colony runs about 149 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
MeasuredGildford Colony sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 Gildford Colony is in
Gildford Colony sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Gildford Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hill County.
What Grows in Gildford Colony
Every plant below cleared Gildford Colony's own zone 3b and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gildford Colony?
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 Sep 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Gildford Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gildford Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FLYNN FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- GILFORD CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- 35N12E06BBDC01Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- 35N11E31DCCC01Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- 35N10E04CBCD01Nitrate · 7.4 mi
- 36N10E32DAAA01Nitrate · 7.7 mi
- 34N12E19BCBD01Nitrate · 8.1 mi
- 36N10E21BDBA01Nitrate · 8.3 mi
- 34N10E14BCAA01Nitrate · 8.3 mi
- 34N10E14BCAB01Nitrate · 8.3 mi
- 34N11E24CDDD01Nitrate · 8.5 mi
Measured from Gildford 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 Gildford Colony.
Total Sites
20
within ~10 miles of Gildford Colony
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
18 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gildford 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.
Check your specific parcel in Gildford 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 Gildford Colony average
Your land is one point inside Gildford Colony
Everything above resolves to Gildford Colony as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 491 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 Gildford Colony Average
Gildford Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Gildford Colony
- ●One soil character for all of Gildford Colony
- ●Frost dates read at Gildford Colony's scale: May 4 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gildford Colony's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gildford Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gildford Colony, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gildford Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gildford Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gildford Colony average
How we know this about Gildford 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 Gildford 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 Gildford Colony
When does frost risk typically end in Gildford Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gildford Colony 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 Gildford Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gildford Colony typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gildford Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gildford Colony sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 16, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gildford Colony?
The federal record around Gildford Colony is light — 20 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (18), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 gardeners stretch the season in Gildford Colony?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Gildford Colony 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 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 4 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Gildford Colony's scale — its 3b band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gildford 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 Gildford Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Gildford Colony's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 491 acres it covers and 20 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gildford Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gildford Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Sep 30 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 20 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gildford Colony, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gildford Colony's boundary and the 491 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gildford Colony's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gildford Colony's 491 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hill County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hill 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 Hill County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gildford Colony's 491 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gildford 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 491 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Gildford Colony-wide figureread your own land →
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