Musselshell, 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, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Musselshell, 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 Musselshell 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 Musselshell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Musselshell — the short answer
Musselshell, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- 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
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Musselshell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Musselshell's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Musselshell
Each reading below is measured for Musselshell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMusselshell runs about 161 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
MeasuredMusselshell 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 Musselshell is in
Musselshell sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Musselshell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Musselshell County.
What Grows in Musselshell
Every plant below cleared Musselshell's own zone 4b and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Musselshell?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (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. 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 Musselshell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Musselshell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MUSSELSHELL GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- BLM-ILLEGAL AIRSTRIP JOHN GRETAKSuperfund · 1.7 mi
- 09N29E29A 01Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- MUSSELSHELL COUNTY SHOP USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 08N28E03AAB 01Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- 08N30E08DBB 01Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- 09N30E30DBAD01Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 08N29E33CAA 01Nitrate · 6.4 mi
- SUMATRA FIELDUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- 09N30E20AABA01Nitrate · 6.8 mi
- FOSTER RANCH FEEDLOTCAFO · 6.9 mi
- 08N28E29A 01Nitrate · 8.0 mi
1 more site is on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Musselshell'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 Musselshell.
Total Sites
21
within ~10 miles of Musselshell
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Musselshell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Musselshell
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.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Musselshell
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 Musselshell average
Your land is one point inside Musselshell
Everything above resolves to Musselshell as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Musselshell Average
Musselshell Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Musselshell
- ●One soil character for all of Musselshell
- ●Frost dates read at Musselshell's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Musselshell's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Musselshell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Musselshell, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Musselshell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Musselshell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Musselshell average
How we know this about Musselshell
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 Musselshell’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 Musselshell
When does frost risk typically end in Musselshell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Musselshell typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Musselshell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Musselshell 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 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Musselshell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Musselshell sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 23, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Musselshell?
The federal record around Musselshell is a meaningful one — 21 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (16), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 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 Musselshell?
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 Musselshell's scale — its 4b band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Musselshell'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 Musselshell’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Musselshell's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,633 acres it covers and 21 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Musselshell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Musselshell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 7 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 21 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Musselshell, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Musselshell's boundary and the 1,633 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Musselshell's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Musselshell's 1,633 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Musselshell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Musselshell 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 Musselshell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Musselshell's 1,633 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Musselshell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,633 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.6 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 Musselshell-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaMusselshell sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides