Ryegate, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Ryegate, 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 Ryegate 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 Ryegate — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Ryegate — the short answer
Ryegate, Montana: USDA zone 4b, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 483 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 483 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 Ryegate's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ryegate's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ryegate
Each reading below is measured for Ryegate itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRyegate runs about 148 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
MeasuredRyegate 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 Ryegate is in
Ryegate sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ryegate's own centroid rather than borrowed from Golden Valley County.
What Grows in Ryegate
Every plant below cleared Ryegate's own zone 4b and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ryegate?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Ryegate
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ryegate. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MDOT RYEGATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- ROAD MAINT DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- BIG COULEE FIELDUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- GOLDEN VALLEY COLONY USTUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- RYEGATE CONOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- 06N20E20BBC 01Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- GOLDEN VALLEY COLONYCAFO · 2.9 mi
- FORMER MWRR RYEGATEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- 06N19E23BCDB01Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- 06N19E31BCBB01Nitrate · 8.5 mi
- 06N21E22BDA 01Nitrate · 8.7 mi
- 07N21E05BBC 01Nitrate · 8.7 mi
Measured from Ryegate'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 Ryegate.
Total Sites
17
within ~10 miles of Ryegate
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ryegate
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ryegate
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 Ryegate
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 Ryegate average
Your land is one point inside Ryegate
Everything above resolves to Ryegate as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 483 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 Ryegate Average
Ryegate Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Ryegate
- ●One soil character for all of Ryegate
- ●Frost dates read at Ryegate's scale: May 6 to Oct 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ryegate's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ryegate
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ryegate, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ryegate averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ryegate — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ryegate average
How we know this about Ryegate
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 Ryegate’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 Ryegate
When does frost risk typically end in Ryegate?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ryegate typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Ryegate?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ryegate typically arrives around Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 17, so the watching starts about Sep 1 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ryegate?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ryegate sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 17, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ryegate?
The federal record around Ryegate is light — 17 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Ryegate?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Ryegate 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 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 6 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Ryegate's scale — its 4b band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ryegate'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 Ryegate’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ryegate's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 483 acres it covers and 17 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ryegate's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ryegate's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 1 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 17 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ryegate, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ryegate's boundary and the 483 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ryegate's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ryegate's 483 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Golden Valley County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Golden Valley 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 Golden Valley County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ryegate's 483 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ryegate you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 483 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Ryegate-wide figureread your own land →
More in Montana
Wider growing context
What grows across MontanaRyegate sits outside our named growing regions, so Montana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides