Chappell, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chappell, 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 Chappell 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 Chappell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chappell — the short answer
Chappell, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 174 days between hard freezes, across 449 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~174
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 449 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 Chappell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chappell's 174-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chappell
Each reading below is measured for Chappell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredChappell runs about 174 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
MeasuredChappell 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 Chappell is in
Chappell sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Chappell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Deuel County.
What Grows in Chappell
Every plant below cleared Chappell's own zone 5b and its 174-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chappell?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Chappell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chappell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HANSEN PETROLEUMUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- PUMP & PANTRY #28Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- FRENCHMAN VALLEY COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- UNION PACIFIC RAILROADUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- LEPRINO FOODS COToxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
- CREEK VALLEY HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 2200 ft
- 13N 45W23CB 2Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- CHAPPELL FEEDLOT, LLCCAFO · 1.3 mi
- HUMMERMEIER FEEDLOTCAFO · 4.0 mi
- 13N 44W21BC 1Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- GLEN BRUNS & SON INC FARM SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- 12N 44W18BB 1Nitrate · 6.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chappell'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 Chappell.
Total Sites
26
within ~10 miles of Chappell
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chappell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chappell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chappell, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Chappell. 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 Chappell
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 Chappell average
Your land is one point inside Chappell
Everything above resolves to Chappell as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 449 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 city 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 Chappell Average
Chappell Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Chappell
- ●One soil character for all of Chappell
- ●Frost dates read at Chappell's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chappell's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chappell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chappell, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chappell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chappell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chappell average
How we know this about Chappell
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Chappell’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Chappell
When does frost risk typically end in Chappell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chappell typically lands around Apr 25, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Chappell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chappell typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 174 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chappell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chappell sees about 174 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Oct 2, about 139 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chappell?
The federal record around Chappell is light — 26 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (11), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Chappell?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chappell's scale — its 5b band and its 174-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chappell'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 Chappell’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Chappell's own scale — its own ~174-day season between 28°F freezes, the 449 acres it covers and 26 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chappell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chappell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 16 and the ~174-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 26 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chappell, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chappell's boundary and the 449 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~174-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chappell's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chappell's 449 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Deuel County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Deuel 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 Deuel County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chappell's 449 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chappell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 449 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Chappell-wide figureread your own land →