Dawes County, in Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Dawes County lies within the Nebraska Panhandle and the High Plains — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Dawes County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Dawes County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Dawes County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Dawes County — the short answer
Dawes County, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 164 days between hard freezes, across 894K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~164
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 894K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Dawes County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dawes County's 164-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Dawes County
Across a year, Dawes County accumulates about 2,435 growing degree days above 50°F, about 405 fewer than the middle Nebraska county — ahead of 7 of Nebraska’s 93 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Dawes County
Across Dawes County, the ground is predominantly Entisols, where Canyon, Pierre, and Samsil are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.0–7.9, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Entisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Dawes County
The USDA soil survey maps 93% of Dawes County as well drained — but another 6% drains differently: 3% excessively drained, 2% somewhat excessively drained.
Canyon is the most extensive named soil at 9% of mapped acres, then Pierre (8%) and Samsil (6%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Dawes County
Each reading below is measured for Dawes County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Dawes County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Dawes County runs about pH 7.0–7.9, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredDawes County runs about 164 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
MeasuredDawes County 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 Dawes County is in
Dawes County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — High Plains (57%) and Northwestern Great Plains (43%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Dawes County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Dawes County's own USDA zone 5a and its own 164-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile.
Is it too late to plant in Dawes County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 gets applied to farmland in Dawes County
USGS estimates 72,075 lb of Glyphosate on Dawes County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (36,380 lb) and Dicamba (9,330 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Dawes County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Dawes County — 28 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 concentrated animal feeding operation. Large-scale animal operations that can contaminate soil and groundwater with nitrates and pathogens.
The federal record across Dawes County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Dawes County
Closest first, across Dawes County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #2579Brownfields · 9.8 mi
- CHAMBERLAIN CHAPEL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.8 mi
- MAVERIK #501Underground Storage Tanks · 9.9 mi
- CHADRON STATE COLLEGEBrownfields · 10.1 mi
- CHEEMAs GAS & LIQUOR #2Underground Storage Tanks · 10.1 mi
- CHADRON SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 10.4 mi
- PUMP & PANTRY #12Underground Storage Tanks · 10.4 mi
- SAFEWAY STORE 2563Brownfields · 10.5 mi
- COMMON CENTS FOOD STORESUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.5 mi
- CONOCO BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.6 mi
- 30N 49W22BB 1Nitrate · 10.7 mi
- DELUXE CLEANERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dawes County'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 Dawes County.
Total Sites
28
across Dawes County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
across Dawes County
Severity Distribution
across Dawes County
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.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Dawes County
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 Dawes County average
Your land is one point inside Dawes County
Everything above resolves to Dawes County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 894K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Dawes County Average
Dawes County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Dawes County
- ●One soil character for all of Dawes County
- ●Frost dates read at Dawes County's scale: May 1 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dawes County's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Dawes County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dawes County, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dawes County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dawes County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dawes County average
How we know this about Dawes County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Dawes County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Dawes County
When does frost risk typically end in Dawes County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dawes County typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
How long is the growing season in Dawes County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dawes County sees about 164 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 28, about 129 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dawes County?
The federal record around Dawes County shows 28 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (12), the nearest Brownfields record about 9.8 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.
Everything above is measured at Dawes County's scale — its 5a band and its 164-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dawes County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Nebraska's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Dawes County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Dawes County's own scale — its own ~164-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 28 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dawes County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dawes County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~164-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Dawes CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 28 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 9.8 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Dawes County's boundary and the 893,719 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~164-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Dawes County spans, High Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Dawes County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Nebraska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Nebraska
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Dawes County — the ~164 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dawes County's 893,719 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 28 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Dawes Countyread your own land →