Chapman, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chapman, 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 Chapman 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 Chapman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chapman — the short answer
Chapman, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 193 days between hard freezes, across 285 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~193
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 285 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 Chapman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chapman's 193-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chapman
Each reading below is measured for Chapman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredChapman runs about 193 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
MeasuredChapman 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 Chapman is in
Chapman sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Chapman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Merrick County.
What Grows in Chapman
Every plant below cleared Chapman's own zone 5b and its 193-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chapman?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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 Chapman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chapman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AURORA COOPERATIVE ELEVATOR COUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- 12N 7W19AA 1Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 12N 7W20BC 1Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- KNIGHT BROS. INC.Brownfields · 2.1 mi
- WRANGLER SALOONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 12N 7W20CC 1Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- 12N 8W25AD 1Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- 12N 8W26AA 1Nitrate · 2.9 mi
- 12N 8W25BC 1Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- 13N 7W27BC 1Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- 12N 8W35ADDA1Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- 12N 8W36BC 2Nitrate · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chapman'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 Chapman.
Total Sites
96
within ~10 miles of Chapman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chapman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chapman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chapman, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 62 sites within ~10 miles of Chapman. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Chapman
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 Chapman average
Your land is one point inside Chapman
Everything above resolves to Chapman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 285 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 Chapman Average
Chapman Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Chapman
- ●One soil character for all of Chapman
- ●Frost dates read at Chapman's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chapman's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chapman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chapman, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chapman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chapman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chapman average
How we know this about Chapman
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 Chapman’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 Chapman
When does frost risk typically end in Chapman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chapman typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Chapman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chapman typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 193 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chapman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chapman sees about 193 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 7, about 158 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chapman?
The federal record around Chapman is a meaningful one — 96 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (62), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Chapman?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chapman's scale — its 5b band and its 193-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chapman'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 Chapman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Chapman's own scale — its own ~193-day season between 28°F freezes, the 285 acres it covers and 96 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chapman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chapman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Oct 21 and the ~193-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 96 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chapman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chapman's boundary and the 285 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~193-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chapman's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chapman's 285 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Merrick County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Merrick 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 Merrick County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chapman's 285 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chapman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 285 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Chapman-wide figureread your own land →
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