Turner, Montana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — 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 Turner, 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 Turner 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 Turner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Turner — the short answer
Turner, Montana: USDA zone 4a, about 144 days between hard freezes, across 285 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~144
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 285 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 Turner's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Turner's 144-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Turner
Each reading below is measured for Turner itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTurner runs about 144 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
MeasuredTurner 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 Turner is in
Turner sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Turner's own centroid rather than borrowed from Blaine County.
What Grows in Turner
Every plant below cleared Turner's own zone 4a and its 144-day season. Each card opens that plant's Montana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Turner?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Turner
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Turner. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DOYLE AIR SPRAY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- GEORGE PETRIEUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- TURNER SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BN TURNER DEPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
Measured from Turner'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 Turner.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Turner
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Turner
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 Turner average
Your land is one point inside Turner
Everything above resolves to Turner as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 285 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 Turner Average
Turner Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Turner
- ●One soil character for all of Turner
- ●Frost dates read at Turner's scale: May 9 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Turner's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Turner
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Turner, Montana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Turner averages can't show:
We read public map data around Turner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Turner average
How we know this about Turner
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 Turner’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 Turner
When does frost risk typically end in Turner?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Turner typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Turner?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Turner typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 144 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Turner?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Turner sees about 144 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 16, about 109 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Turner?
The federal record around Turner is light — 4 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (4), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Turner?
With about 144 frost-free days between hard freezes, Turner 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 172 to 200 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 9 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Turner's scale — its 4a band and its 144-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Turner'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 Turner’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Turner's own scale — its own ~144-day season between 28°F freezes, the 285 acres it covers and 4 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Turner's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Turner's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Sep 30 and the ~144-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 4 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Turner, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Turner's boundary and the 285 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~144-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Turner's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Turner's 285 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Blaine County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Blaine 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 Blaine County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Turner's 285 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Turner you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 285 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Turner-wide figureread your own land →
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