Center, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Center, 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 Center 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 Center — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Center — the short answer
Center, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 182 days between hard freezes, across 67 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 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~182
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 67 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 Center's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Center's 182-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Center
Each reading below is measured for Center itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCenter runs about 182 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
MeasuredCenter 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 Center is in
Center sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Center's own centroid rather than borrowed from Knox County.
What Grows in Center
Every plant below cleared Center's own zone 5a and its 182-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Center?
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 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Center
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Center. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KNOX COUNTY FEEDERS INCCAFO · 4.0 mi
- 30N 6W 8AD 1Nitrate · 8.0 mi
- VERDIGRE FARM SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.0 mi
- WALTs IMPLEMENTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- GORDON MCELHOSE TRKG & CONSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- BLOOM-N-EGGToxics Release Inventory · 8.1 mi
- ARCHIE WALTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- M.G. WALDBAUM CO. POULTRY FARM OPERATIONS- BLOOMFIELDCAFO · 8.8 mi
- BLOOM N EGG FARMBrownfields · 8.8 mi
- CREIGHTON OIL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- B & B CLEANERSBrownfields · 9.9 mi
- 59 EXPRESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
1 more site is on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Center'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 Center.
Total Sites
14
within ~10 miles of Center
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Center
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Center
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 Center
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 Center average
Your land is one point inside Center
Everything above resolves to Center as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 67 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 Center Average
Center Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Center
- ●One soil character for all of Center
- ●Frost dates read at Center's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Center's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Center
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Center, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Center averages can't show:
We read public map data around Center — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Center average
How we know this about Center
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 Center’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 Center
When does frost risk typically end in Center?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Center 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 Center?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Center typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 182 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Center?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Center sees about 182 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 4, about 147 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Center?
The federal record around Center is light — 14 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (7), the nearest CAFO record about 4.0 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 Center?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Center's scale — its 5a band and its 182-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Center'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 Center’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Center's own scale — its own ~182-day season between 28°F freezes, the 67 acres it covers and 14 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Center's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Center's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 18 and the ~182-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 14 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Center, the closest CAFO record about 4.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Center's boundary and the 67 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~182-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Center'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 Center's 67 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Knox County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Knox 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 Knox County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Center's 67 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Center you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 67 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest CAFO record about 4.0 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 Center-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaCenter sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides