Terry, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Terry, 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 Terry 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 Terry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Terry — the short answer
Terry, Montana: USDA zone 4a, about 155 days between hard freezes, across 500 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~155
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 500 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 Terry's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Terry's 155-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Terry
Each reading below is measured for Terry itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTerry 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
MeasuredTerry 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 Terry is in
Terry sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Terry's own centroid rather than borrowed from Prairie County.
What Grows in Terry
Every plant below cleared Terry's own zone 4a and its 155-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Terry?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Terry
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Terry. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TERRY SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- FARMERS UNION OIL CO TERRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- PRAIRIE COUNTY COMMISSIONERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- R L TIBBETTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BN TERRY DEPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- TOWN OF TERRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 4 CORNERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- FORT GENERAL TERRY EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- RAYMOND STRASHEIMUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BUFFALO RAPIDS IRRIGATION PROJECTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CHERRY CREEK RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- J RANCH INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Terry'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 Terry.
Total Sites
32
within ~10 miles of Terry
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Terry
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Terry
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Terry, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Terry — CAFO (3 sites) and Nitrate (14 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Terry
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 Terry average
Your land is one point inside Terry
Everything above resolves to Terry as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 500 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 Terry Average
Terry Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Terry
- ●One soil character for all of Terry
- ●Frost dates read at Terry's scale: May 3 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Terry's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Terry
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Terry, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Terry averages can't show:
We read public map data around Terry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Terry average
How we know this about Terry
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 Terry’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 Terry
When does frost risk typically end in Terry?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Terry typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Terry?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Terry typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 155 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Terry?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Terry sees about 155 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 21, about 120 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Terry?
The federal record around Terry is light — 32 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (15), 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 I protect my plants from frost in Terry?
From about Sep 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Terry's scale — its 4a band and its 155-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Terry'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 Terry’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Terry's own scale — its own ~155-day season between 28°F freezes, the 500 acres it covers and 32 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Terry's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Terry's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 5 and the ~155-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 32 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Terry, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Terry's boundary and the 500 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~155-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Terry's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Terry's 500 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Prairie County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Prairie 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 Prairie County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Terry's 500 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Terry you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 500 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 Terry-wide figureread your own land →
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