Racetrack, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Racetrack, 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 Racetrack 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 Racetrack — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Racetrack — the short answer
Racetrack, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 125 days between hard freezes, across 719 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~125
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 719 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 Racetrack's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Racetrack's 125-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Racetrack
Each reading below is measured for Racetrack itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRacetrack runs about 125 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
MeasuredRacetrack 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 Racetrack is in
Racetrack sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Racetrack's own centroid rather than borrowed from Powell County.
What Grows in Racetrack
Every plant below cleared Racetrack's own zone 4b and its 125-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Racetrack?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Racetrack
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Racetrack. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 06N09W21BBBB01Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 06N09W08ADDC01Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 06N09W09BABC01Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- THOMAS A BECKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- 07N09W31CCBB01Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- MONTANA STATE HOSPITAL GALEN CAMPUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- 06N10W01CBBC01Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- 06N10W23DCDD01Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- DONALD TAMCKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- BROKEN CIRCLE RANCH CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- DUGOUT BAR USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- Matchless LodeMining · 5.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Racetrack'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 Racetrack.
Total Sites
278
within ~10 miles of Racetrack
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Racetrack
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Racetrack
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Racetrack, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Racetrack — Nitrate (188 sites) and Mining (35 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
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 well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Racetrack
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 Racetrack average
Your land is one point inside Racetrack
Everything above resolves to Racetrack as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 719 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 Racetrack Average
Racetrack Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Racetrack
- ●One soil character for all of Racetrack
- ●Frost dates read at Racetrack's scale: May 17 to Sep 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Racetrack's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Racetrack
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Racetrack, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Racetrack averages can't show:
We read public map data around Racetrack — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Racetrack average
How we know this about Racetrack
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 Racetrack’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 Racetrack
When does frost risk typically end in Racetrack?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Racetrack typically lands around May 17, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Racetrack?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Racetrack typically arrives around Sep 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 5, so the watching starts about Aug 20 — about 125 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Racetrack?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Racetrack sees about 125 frost-free days — roughly May 17 through Sep 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 7 to Sep 5, about 90 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Racetrack?
The federal record around Racetrack is a meaningful one — 278 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (188), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 Racetrack?
With about 125 frost-free days between hard freezes, Racetrack 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 153 to 181 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 17 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Racetrack's scale — its 4b band and its 125-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Racetrack'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 Racetrack’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Racetrack's own scale — its own ~125-day season between 28°F freezes, the 719 acres it covers and 278 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Racetrack's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Racetrack's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 17 and Sep 19 and the ~125-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 278 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Racetrack, the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Racetrack's boundary and the 719 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~125-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Racetrack's own centroid, the Middle RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Racetrack's 719 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Powell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Powell 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 Powell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Racetrack's 719 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Racetrack you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 719 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 Racetrack-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaRacetrack sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides