Lincoln, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with zucchini, cranberry, cilantro, and okra — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Lincoln, 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 Lincoln 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 Lincoln — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lincoln — the short answer
Lincoln, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 107 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~107
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 11K 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 Lincoln's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lincoln's 107-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lincoln
Each reading below is measured for Lincoln itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLincoln runs about 107 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
MeasuredLincoln 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 Lincoln is in
Lincoln sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Lincoln's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lewis and Clark County.
What Grows in Lincoln
Every plant below cleared Lincoln's own zone 4b and its 107-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lincoln?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Lincoln
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lincoln. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MOUNTAIN VIEW COOP LINCOLNUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- FORMER STONERS STAGE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- BLACKFOOT SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- GOLDEN SUNRISE BAKERY EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- LEWIS & CLARK EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- R & R LUMBER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- BLACKFOOT CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- LINCOLN AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- LEWIS & CLARK COUNTY SHOP LINCOLNUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- Pack Horse LodeMining · 3.7 mi
- Golden Dollar #5 LodeMining · 3.7 mi
- Baldy Mountain ClaimsMining · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lincoln'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 Lincoln.
Total Sites
49
within ~10 miles of Lincoln
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lincoln
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lincoln
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lincoln, Mining runs higher than the national average — 29 sites within ~10 miles of Lincoln. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Lincoln
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 Lincoln average
Your land is one point inside Lincoln
Everything above resolves to Lincoln as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 11K 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 Lincoln Average
Lincoln Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Lincoln
- ●One soil character for all of Lincoln
- ●Frost dates read at Lincoln's scale: May 25 to Sep 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lincoln's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lincoln
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lincoln, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lincoln averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lincoln — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lincoln average
How we know this about Lincoln
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 Lincoln’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 Lincoln
When does frost risk typically end in Lincoln?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lincoln typically lands around May 25, 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 Jun 15.
When is the first frost in Lincoln?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lincoln typically arrives around Sep 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 26, so the watching starts about Aug 10 — about 107 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lincoln?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lincoln sees about 107 frost-free days — roughly May 25 through Sep 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 15 to Aug 26, about 72 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lincoln?
The federal record around Lincoln is a meaningful one — 49 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (29), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Lincoln?
With about 107 frost-free days between hard freezes, Lincoln 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 135 to 163 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 25 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Lincoln's scale — its 4b band and its 107-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lincoln'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 Lincoln’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lincoln's own scale — its own ~107-day season between 28°F freezes, the 11,229 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lincoln's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lincoln's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 25 and Sep 9 and the ~107-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lincoln, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lincoln's boundary and the 11,229 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~107-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lincoln's own centroid, the Middle RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lincoln's 11,229 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lewis and Clark County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lewis and Clark 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 Lewis and Clark County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lincoln's 11,229 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lincoln you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,229 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Lincoln-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaLincoln sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides