Martin City, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Martin City, 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 Martin City 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 Martin City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Martin City — the short answer
Martin City, Montana: USDA zone 5b, about 159 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- 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 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~159
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 5b is Martin City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Martin City's 159-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Martin City
Each reading below is measured for Martin City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMartin City runs about 159 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
MeasuredMartin City sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Martin City is in
Martin City sits in the Canadian Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Martin City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Flathead County.
What Grows in Martin City
Every plant below cleared Martin City's own zone 5b and its 159-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Martin City?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 7 — 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 Martin City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Martin City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MARTIN CITY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- HUNGRY HORSE RANGER STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- BOBS GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- BR-HUNGRY HORSE DAMSuperfund · 1.4 mi
- CENEX ZIP TRIP #71Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- ANNA CREEK WORK CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- HUNGRY HORSE PROJECT USBRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- BETTY CREEK WORK CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- SPOTTED BEAR RANGER STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- GARY SCHAEFFERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- GLACIER CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- HUNGRY HORSE FIELD OFFICE BUR OF REC US DOIBrownfields · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Martin City'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 Martin City.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Martin City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Martin City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Martin City, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Martin City — Superfund (3 sites) and Nitrate (36 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Martin City
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 Martin City average
Your land is one point inside Martin City
Everything above resolves to Martin City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Martin City Average
Martin City Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Martin City
- ●One soil character for all of Martin City
- ●Frost dates read at Martin City's scale: May 1 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Martin City's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Martin City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Martin City, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Martin City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Martin City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Martin City average
How we know this about Martin City
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 Martin City’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 Martin City
When does frost risk typically end in Martin City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Martin City 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 Martin City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Martin City typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 159 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Martin City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Martin City sees about 159 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 23, about 124 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Martin City?
The federal record around Martin City is a meaningful one — 113 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (54), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 I protect my plants from frost in Martin City?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Martin City's scale — its 5b band and its 159-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Martin City'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 Martin City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Martin City's own scale — its own ~159-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,106 acres it covers and 113 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Martin City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Martin City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 7 and the ~159-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 113 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Martin City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Martin City's boundary and the 1,106 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~159-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Martin City's own centroid, the Canadian RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Martin City's 1,106 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Flathead County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Flathead 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 Flathead County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Martin City's 1,106 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Martin City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,106 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Martin City-wide figureread your own land →
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