Neihart, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, zucchini, cranberry, cilantro, and okra all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Neihart, 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 Neihart 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 Neihart — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Neihart — the short answer
Neihart, Montana: USDA zone 4a, about 98 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jun 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~98
- 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 4a is Neihart's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Neihart's 98-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Neihart
Each reading below is measured for Neihart itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNeihart runs about 98 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
MeasuredNeihart sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Neihart is in
Neihart sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Neihart's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Cascade County is mostly Northwestern Glaciated Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Neihart
Every plant below cleared Neihart's own zone 4a and its 98-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Neihart?
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 May 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jun 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 10 — 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 Neihart
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Neihart. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Compromise ClaimMining · 350 ft
- RAY MASTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- BOB FAW USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- KINGS HILL GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Moulton MineMining · 1600 ft
- CompromiseMining · 1600 ft
- CumberlandMining · 1600 ft
- Queen of the HillsMining · 1700 ft
- GEORGE KRICKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- SKI LIFT INC DBA SHOWDOWN SKIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Queen of the Hills MineMining · 1800 ft
- Galt-QueenMining · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Neihart'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 Neihart.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Neihart
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Neihart, Mining runs higher than the national average — 99 sites within ~10 miles of Neihart. 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.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Neihart
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 Neihart average
Your land is one point inside Neihart
Everything above resolves to Neihart 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 Neihart Average
Neihart Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Neihart
- ●One soil character for all of Neihart
- ●Frost dates read at Neihart's scale: Jun 4 to Sep 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Neihart's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Neihart
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Neihart, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Neihart averages can't show:
We read public map data around Neihart — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Neihart average
How we know this about Neihart
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 Neihart’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 Neihart
When does frost risk typically end in Neihart?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Neihart typically lands around Jun 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Neihart?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Neihart typically arrives around Sep 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 27, so the watching starts about Aug 11 — about 98 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Neihart?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Neihart sees about 98 frost-free days — roughly Jun 4 through Sep 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 25 to Aug 27, about 63 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Neihart?
The federal record around Neihart runs heavier than most — 114 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (99), the nearest Mining record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Neihart?
With about 98 frost-free days between hard freezes, Neihart 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 126 to 154 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the Jun 4 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Neihart's scale — its 4a band and its 98-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Neihart'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 Neihart’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Neihart's own scale — its own ~98-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,272 acres it covers and 114 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Neihart's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Neihart's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Jun 4 and Sep 10 and the ~98-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 114 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Neihart, the closest Mining record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Neihart's boundary and the 1,272 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~98-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Neihart sits in the Middle Rockies — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Neihart's 1,272 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cascade County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cascade 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 Cascade County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Neihart's 1,272 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Neihart you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,272 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record under a tenth of a mile 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 Neihart-wide figureread your own land →