Beaver City, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Beaver City, 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 Beaver City 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 Beaver City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Beaver City — the short answer
Beaver City, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 547 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 547 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 Beaver City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Beaver City's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Beaver City
Each reading below is measured for Beaver City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBeaver City runs about 181 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
MeasuredBeaver City 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 Beaver City is in
Beaver City sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Beaver City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Furnas County.
What Grows in Beaver City
Every plant below cleared Beaver City's own zone 5b and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Beaver City?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Beaver City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Beaver City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PRO TECH AUTO IIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- FURNAS COUNTY INCONVENIENCE CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BEAVER CITY, CITY OFPFAS · 2.3 mi
- MCCARTY FARMS BEAVER CITY, LLCCAFO · 3.6 mi
- SOUTHERN VALLEY JR/SR HIGHBrownfields · 9.9 mi
Measured from Beaver City'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 Beaver City.
Total Sites
5
within ~10 miles of Beaver City
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Beaver City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Beaver City
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Beaver City
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 Beaver City average
Your land is one point inside Beaver City
Everything above resolves to Beaver City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 547 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 city 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 Beaver City Average
Beaver City Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Beaver City
- ●One soil character for all of Beaver City
- ●Frost dates read at Beaver City's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Beaver City's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Beaver City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Beaver City, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Beaver City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Beaver City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Beaver City average
How we know this about Beaver City
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Beaver City’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Beaver City
When does frost risk typically end in Beaver City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Beaver City typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Beaver City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Beaver City typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 181 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Beaver City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Beaver City sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 3, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Beaver City?
The federal record around Beaver City shows 5 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (2), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Beaver City?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Beaver City's scale — its 5b band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Beaver City'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 Beaver City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Beaver City's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 547 acres it covers and 5 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Beaver City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Beaver City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 17 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 5 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Beaver City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Beaver City's boundary and the 547 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Beaver City's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Beaver City's 547 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Furnas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Furnas 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 Furnas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Beaver City's 547 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Beaver City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 547 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Beaver City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaBeaver City sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.