Montana City, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Montana 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 Montana 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 Montana City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Montana City — the short answer
Montana City, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 155 days between hard freezes, across 22K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~155
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 22K 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 Montana City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Montana City's 155-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Montana City
Each reading below is measured for Montana City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMontana City runs about 155 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
MeasuredMontana City 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 Montana City is in
Montana City sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Montana City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Montana City
Every plant below cleared Montana City's own zone 4b and its 155-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Montana City?
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 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Montana City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Montana City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Easy Money GroupMining · 2000 ft
- 09N03W24ACBC01Nitrate · 2200 ft
- 09N03W24CDBC01Nitrate · 2600 ft
- DELBERT D SHARBONOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- LINDSAY DRILLING CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MARKS MILLER POST & POLE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Edge No. 1, Norway No. 6Mining · 1.2 mi
- ASH GROVE CEMENT WEST INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- MONTANA CITY STORE LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- ASH GROVE CEMENT CO - MONTANA CITY PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1.5 mi
- ASH GROVE CEMENT CO - MONTANA CITY PLANTBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- 09N02W19DDBB01Nitrate · 1.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Montana 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 Montana City.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Montana City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Montana City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Montana City, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Montana City — Mining (90 sites) and Nitrate (392 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Montana 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 Montana City average
Your land is one point inside Montana City
Everything above resolves to Montana City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 22K 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 Montana City Average
Montana City Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Montana City
- ●One soil character for all of Montana City
- ●Frost dates read at Montana City's scale: May 2 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Montana City's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Montana City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Montana City, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Montana City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Montana City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Montana City average
How we know this about Montana 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 Montana 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 Montana City
When does frost risk typically end in Montana City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Montana City typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Montana City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Montana City typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 155 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Montana City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Montana City sees about 155 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 20, about 120 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Montana City?
The federal record around Montana City runs heavier than most — 818 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (392), the nearest Mining record about 0.4 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Montana City?
From about Sep 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Montana City's scale — its 4b band and its 155-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Montana 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 Montana City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Montana City's own scale — its own ~155-day season between 28°F freezes, the 21,821 acres it covers and 818 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Montana City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Montana City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 4 and the ~155-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 818 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Montana City, the closest Mining record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Montana City's boundary and the 21,821 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~155-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Montana City's own centroid, the Middle RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Montana City's 21,821 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Montana City's 21,821 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Montana 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 21,821 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining 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 Montana City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaMontana City sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides