Belvidere, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Belvidere, 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 Belvidere 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 Belvidere — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Belvidere — the short answer
Belvidere, Nebraska: USDA zone 6a, about 198 days between hard freezes, across 298 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~198
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 298 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 6a is Belvidere's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Belvidere's 198-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Belvidere
Each reading below is measured for Belvidere itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBelvidere runs about 198 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
MeasuredBelvidere sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Belvidere is in
Belvidere sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Belvidere's own centroid rather than borrowed from Thayer County.
What Grows in Belvidere
Every plant below cleared Belvidere's own zone 6a and its 198-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Belvidere?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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 Belvidere
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Belvidere. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DAVENPORT SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 4N 3W36BC 1Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- 3N 3W24DA 1Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- 81 EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- SHELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- BRUNING MOTOR SERVICEBrownfields · 5.6 mi
- BRUNING MOTOR SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- BRUNING HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 5.7 mi
- HEBRON PUBLIC SCHOOLSBrownfields · 6.0 mi
- CASEYS GENERAL STORE #1576Underground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- DANSID LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- BUCHLI AND SON IMPLEMENTBrownfields · 6.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Belvidere'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 Belvidere.
Total Sites
23
within ~10 miles of Belvidere
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Belvidere
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Belvidere
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.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Belvidere
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 Belvidere average
Your land is one point inside Belvidere
Everything above resolves to Belvidere as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 298 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 Belvidere Average
Belvidere Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Belvidere
- ●One soil character for all of Belvidere
- ●Frost dates read at Belvidere's scale: Apr 8 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Belvidere's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Belvidere
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Belvidere, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Belvidere averages can't show:
We read public map data around Belvidere — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Belvidere average
How we know this about Belvidere
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 Belvidere’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 Belvidere
When does frost risk typically end in Belvidere?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Belvidere typically lands around Apr 8, 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 Apr 29.
When is the first frost in Belvidere?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Belvidere typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 198 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Belvidere?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Belvidere sees about 198 frost-free days — roughly Apr 8 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 29 to Oct 9, about 163 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Belvidere?
The federal record around Belvidere is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 I protect my plants from frost in Belvidere?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Belvidere's scale — its 6a band and its 198-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Belvidere'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 Belvidere’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Belvidere's own scale — its own ~198-day season between 28°F freezes, the 298 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Belvidere's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Belvidere's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 8 and Oct 23 and the ~198-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Belvidere, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Belvidere's boundary and the 298 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~198-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Belvidere's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Belvidere's 298 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Thayer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Thayer 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 Thayer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Belvidere's 298 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Belvidere you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 298 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 Belvidere-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaBelvidere sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides