Bow Valley, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bow Valley, 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 Bow Valley 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 Bow Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bow Valley — the short answer
Bow Valley, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 92 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- 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
- Town area
- 92 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 5a is Bow Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bow Valley's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bow Valley
Each reading below is measured for Bow Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBow Valley 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
MeasuredBow Valley sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Bow Valley is in
Bow Valley sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Bow Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cedar County.
What Grows in Bow Valley
Every plant below cleared Bow Valley's own zone 5a and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bow Valley?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. 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 Bow Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bow Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KEITH BECKER LIVESTOCKCAFO · 4.4 mi
- HEIMES BROTHERS FARMSCAFO · 4.4 mi
- GERHOLD CONCRETE COToxics Release Inventory · 4.4 mi
- 31N 2E20BA 1Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- BECKER FEEDLOT - GAYLECAFO · 4.7 mi
- 32N 1E 9BA (LC-6S domestic)Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- 33N 1E35DC 1Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- 33N 1E35DC 2Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- 33N 1E 35CC (LC-6D)Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 33N 1E 35CC (LC-6M)Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 32N 2E24BC 1Nitrate · 5.3 mi
- US ARMY CORPS ENGINEERS GAVINS POINT PROJECTBrownfields · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bow Valley'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 Bow Valley.
Total Sites
57
within ~10 miles of Bow Valley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bow Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bow Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bow Valley, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bow Valley — CAFO (9 sites) and Nitrate (30 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 Bow Valley
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 Bow Valley average
Your land is one point inside Bow Valley
Everything above resolves to Bow Valley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 92 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 Bow Valley Average
Bow Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Bow Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Bow Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Bow Valley's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bow Valley's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bow Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bow Valley, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bow Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bow Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bow Valley average
How we know this about Bow Valley
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 Bow Valley’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 Bow Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Bow Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bow Valley 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 Bow Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bow Valley 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 Bow Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bow Valley 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 Bow Valley?
The federal record around Bow Valley is a meaningful one — 57 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (30), the nearest CAFO record about 4.4 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 Bow Valley?
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 Bow Valley's scale — its 5a band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bow Valley'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 Bow Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bow Valley's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 92 acres it covers and 57 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bow Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bow Valley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 17 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 57 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bow Valley, the closest CAFO record about 4.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bow Valley's boundary and the 92 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bow Valley's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bow Valley's 92 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cedar County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cedar 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 Cedar County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bow Valley's 92 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bow Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 92 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest CAFO record about 4.4 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 Bow Valley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaBow Valley sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides