Hobson, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hobson, 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 Hobson 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 Hobson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hobson — the short answer
Hobson, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 137 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- 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
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 137 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 Hobson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hobson's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hobson
Each reading below is measured for Hobson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHobson 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
MeasuredHobson 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 Hobson is in
Hobson sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Hobson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Judith Basin County.
What Grows in Hobson
Every plant below cleared Hobson's own zone 4b and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hobson?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (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. 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 Hobson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hobson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 14N15E06DCBD01Nitrate · 700 ft
- HOBSON SCHOOL DIST 25Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- WOODHALL DISTRIBUTINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- BOS TERRA LPCAFO · 2.4 mi
- JUDITH BASIN COUNTY FARMS LTDCAFO · 2.4 mi
- 15N14E23ACA 01Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- DALE WEISUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB C 7Underground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB C 6Underground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- BASIN ANGUS RANCHCAFO · 4.0 mi
- CENTRAL AG RESEARCH CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- MALMSTROM AFB M 10Underground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hobson'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 Hobson.
Total Sites
44
within ~10 miles of Hobson
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hobson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hobson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hobson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hobson — CAFO (3 sites) and Nitrate (22 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Hobson
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 Hobson average
Your land is one point inside Hobson
Everything above resolves to Hobson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 137 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 city 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 Hobson Average
Hobson Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Hobson
- ●One soil character for all of Hobson
- ●Frost dates read at Hobson's scale: May 6 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hobson's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hobson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hobson, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hobson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hobson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hobson average
How we know this about Hobson
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Hobson’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Hobson
When does frost risk typically end in Hobson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hobson typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Hobson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hobson 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 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hobson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hobson sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 18, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hobson?
The federal record around Hobson is light — 44 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (22), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Hobson?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Hobson 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 6 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Hobson's scale — its 4b band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hobson'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 Hobson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hobson's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 137 acres it covers and 44 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hobson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hobson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 2 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 44 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hobson, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hobson's boundary and the 137 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hobson's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hobson's 137 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Judith Basin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Judith Basin 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 Judith Basin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hobson's 137 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hobson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 137 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Hobson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaHobson sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides