Chester, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Chester, 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 Chester 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 Chester — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Chester — the short answer
Chester, Nebraska: USDA zone 6a, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 375 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~199
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 375 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 Chester's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chester's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chester
Each reading below is measured for Chester itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredChester runs about 199 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
MeasuredChester 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 Chester is in
Chester sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Chester's own centroid rather than borrowed from Thayer County.
What Grows in Chester
Every plant below cleared Chester's own zone 6a and its 199-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chester?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — 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 Chester
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chester. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FOOTE SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 01S 03W 02CCB 01Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 01S 03W 02CC 01Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 01S 03W 02CC 02Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 01S 03W 04DD 01Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- 01S 03W 10DD 01Nitrate · 2.6 mi
- 01S 02W 05AD 01Nitrate · 3.3 mi
- 01S 03W 18CC 01Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- DANIEL WIEDELUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- JIMs SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- 02S 02W 05B 01Nitrate · 7.2 mi
- MUNDEN, CITY OFPFAS · 7.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chester'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 Chester.
Total Sites
38
within ~10 miles of Chester
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chester
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chester
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chester, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Chester. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Chester
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 Chester average
Your land is one point inside Chester
Everything above resolves to Chester as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 375 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 Chester Average
Chester Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Chester
- ●One soil character for all of Chester
- ●Frost dates read at Chester's scale: Apr 8 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chester's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chester
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chester, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chester averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chester — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chester average
How we know this about Chester
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 Chester’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 Chester
When does frost risk typically end in Chester?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chester typically lands around Apr 8, 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 Apr 29.
When is the first frost in Chester?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chester typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chester?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chester sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 8 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 29 to Oct 10, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chester?
The federal record around Chester shows 38 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (30), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Chester?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Chester's scale — its 6a band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chester'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 Chester’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Chester's own scale — its own ~199-day season between 28°F freezes, the 375 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chester's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chester's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 8 and Oct 24 and the ~199-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chester, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chester's boundary and the 375 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~199-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chester's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Chester's 375 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Thayer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Thayer 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 Thayer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chester's 375 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chester you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 375 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Chester-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaChester sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.