Bertrand, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bertrand, 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 Bertrand 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 Bertrand — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bertrand — the short answer
Bertrand, Nebraska: USDA zone 6a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 347 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 347 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 Bertrand's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bertrand's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bertrand
Each reading below is measured for Bertrand itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBertrand runs about 186 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
MeasuredBertrand 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 Bertrand is in
Bertrand sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Bertrand's own centroid rather than borrowed from Phelps County.
What Grows in Bertrand
Every plant below cleared Bertrand's own zone 6a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bertrand?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — 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 Bertrand
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bertrand. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WENDELL H ZIEMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CLAUDE BENNETTUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- CONVENIENCE PLUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CHS AGRI SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- DAHLGREN CATTLE CO.CAFO · 3.1 mi
- 7N 20W22AA 1Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- LEROY KUCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- PAUL JOHNSON & SONS - SOUTHCAFO · 4.4 mi
- 7N 20W 8BA 1Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- 6N 21W26AC 1Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- 7N 19W31CA 1Nitrate · 5.8 mi
- PHELPS COUNTY FEEDERS LLC WESTCAFO · 5.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bertrand'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 Bertrand.
Total Sites
49
within ~10 miles of Bertrand
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
15 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bertrand
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bertrand
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bertrand, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bertrand — CAFO (15 sites) and Nitrate (24 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Bertrand
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 Bertrand average
Your land is one point inside Bertrand
Everything above resolves to Bertrand as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 347 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 Bertrand Average
Bertrand Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Bertrand
- ●One soil character for all of Bertrand
- ●Frost dates read at Bertrand's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bertrand's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bertrand
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bertrand, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bertrand averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bertrand — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bertrand average
How we know this about Bertrand
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 Bertrand’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 Bertrand
When does frost risk typically end in Bertrand?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bertrand typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Bertrand?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bertrand typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bertrand?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bertrand sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 6, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bertrand?
The federal record around Bertrand is light — 49 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (24), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Bertrand?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bertrand's scale — its 6a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bertrand'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 Bertrand’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bertrand's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 347 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bertrand's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bertrand's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 20 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bertrand, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bertrand's boundary and the 347 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bertrand's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bertrand's 347 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Phelps County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Phelps 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 Phelps County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bertrand's 347 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bertrand you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 347 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Bertrand-wide figureread your own land →
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