Ericson, 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 Ericson, 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 Ericson 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 Ericson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ericson — the short answer
Ericson, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 174 days between hard freezes, across 240 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~174
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 240 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 Ericson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ericson's 174-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ericson
Each reading below is measured for Ericson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEricson 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
MeasuredEricson 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 Ericson is in
Ericson sits in the Nebraska Sand Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ericson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wheeler County.
What Grows in Ericson
Every plant below cleared Ericson's own zone 5a and its 174-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ericson?
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 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Ericson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ericson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- M & M C STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- 21N 11W22DC 1Nitrate · 5.3 mi
- 21N 11W25DD 1Nitrate · 7.7 mi
- NEBRASKA DEPT OF TRANSUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.8 mi
- PLETCHER FLYING SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.8 mi
- JSMM FARMS, LLCCAFO · 9.8 mi
- 20N 10W 8BB 1Nitrate · 10.0 mi
Measured from Ericson'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 Ericson.
Total Sites
10
within ~10 miles of Ericson
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ericson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ericson
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Ericson
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 Ericson average
Your land is one point inside Ericson
Everything above resolves to Ericson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 240 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 Ericson Average
Ericson Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Ericson
- ●One soil character for all of Ericson
- ●Frost dates read at Ericson's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ericson's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ericson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ericson, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ericson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ericson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ericson average
How we know this about Ericson
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 Ericson’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 Ericson
When does frost risk typically end in Ericson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ericson typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Ericson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ericson typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 174 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ericson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ericson sees about 174 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Sep 30, about 139 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ericson?
The federal record around Ericson is light — 10 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (6), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.8 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 Ericson?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ericson's scale — its 5a band and its 174-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ericson'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 Ericson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ericson's own scale — its own ~174-day season between 28°F freezes, the 240 acres it covers and 10 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ericson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ericson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 14 and the ~174-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 10 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ericson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ericson's boundary and the 240 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~174-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ericson's own centroid, the Nebraska Sand HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ericson's 240 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wheeler County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wheeler 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 Wheeler County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ericson's 240 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ericson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 240 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.8 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 Ericson-wide figureread your own land →
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