Archer, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Archer, 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 Archer 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 Archer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Archer — the short answer
Archer, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 194 days between hard freezes, across 641 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~194
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 641 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 5b is Archer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Archer's 194-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Archer
Each reading below is measured for Archer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredArcher runs about 194 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
MeasuredArcher sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Archer is in
Archer sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Archer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Merrick County.
What Grows in Archer
Every plant below cleared Archer's own zone 5b and its 194-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Archer?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Archer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Archer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 14N 7W26CC 1Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- 13N 7W 5CB 1Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- 15N 7W34CBBB1Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- 15N 7W34BCC 1Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- 13N 8W11DDDD1 ArcherNitrate · 5.1 mi
- CHRISTENSEN CATTLE CO.CAFO · 5.3 mi
- 15N 6W31CC 1Nitrate · 5.6 mi
- 15N 8W27DD 1Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- DINSDALE BROTHERS, INC. - SOUTHCAFO · 6.3 mi
- PALMER CATTLE CO. - SOUTHCAFO · 6.3 mi
- 13N 7W27BC 1Nitrate · 6.7 mi
- 14N 6W 5DA 1Nitrate · 6.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Archer'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 Archer.
Total Sites
60
within ~10 miles of Archer
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Archer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Archer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Archer, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Archer — CAFO (6 sites) and Nitrate (32 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 Archer
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 Archer average
Your land is one point inside Archer
Everything above resolves to Archer as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 641 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 Archer Average
Archer Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Archer
- ●One soil character for all of Archer
- ●Frost dates read at Archer's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Archer's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Archer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Archer, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Archer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Archer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Archer average
How we know this about Archer
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 Archer’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 Archer
When does frost risk typically end in Archer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Archer typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Archer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Archer typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 194 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Archer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Archer sees about 194 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 8, about 159 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Archer?
The federal record around Archer is a meaningful one — 60 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (32), the nearest Nitrate record about 2.7 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 I protect my plants from frost in Archer?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Archer's scale — its 5b band and its 194-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Archer'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 Archer’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Archer's own scale — its own ~194-day season between 28°F freezes, the 641 acres it covers and 60 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Archer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Archer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Oct 22 and the ~194-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 60 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Archer, the closest Nitrate record about 2.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Archer's boundary and the 641 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~194-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Archer's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Archer's 641 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Merrick County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Merrick County
- The growing challenges every Nebraska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Nebraska
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Merrick County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Archer's 641 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Archer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 641 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 2.7 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 Archer-wide figureread your own land →
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