Farnam, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — 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 Farnam, 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 Farnam 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 Farnam — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Farnam — the short answer
Farnam, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 182 days between hard freezes, across 431 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~182
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 431 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 Farnam's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Farnam's 182-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Farnam
Each reading below is measured for Farnam itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFarnam runs about 182 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
MeasuredFarnam 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 Farnam is in
Farnam sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Farnam's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dawson County.
What Grows in Farnam
Every plant below cleared Farnam's own zone 5b and its 182-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Farnam?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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 Farnam
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Farnam. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FARNAM CAR CAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- EUSTIS-FARNAM PUBLIC SCHOOLBrownfields · 1200 ft
- GRABENSTEIN LIVESTOCK DBA LA FARMSCAFO · 3.6 mi
- HI-GAIN FEEDLOT SOUTH LOTCAFO · 3.8 mi
- 10N 24W19CDDD1Nitrate · 9.6 mi
- MOOREFIELD STATIONBrownfields · 9.9 mi
Measured from Farnam'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 Farnam.
Total Sites
8
within ~10 miles of Farnam
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Farnam
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Farnam
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
- •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 Farnam
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 Farnam average
Your land is one point inside Farnam
Everything above resolves to Farnam as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 431 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 Farnam Average
Farnam Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Farnam
- ●One soil character for all of Farnam
- ●Frost dates read at Farnam's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Farnam's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Farnam
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Farnam, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Farnam averages can't show:
We read public map data around Farnam — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Farnam average
How we know this about Farnam
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 Farnam’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 Farnam
When does frost risk typically end in Farnam?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Farnam typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Farnam?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Farnam typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 182 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Farnam?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Farnam sees about 182 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 5, about 147 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Farnam?
The federal record around Farnam is light — 8 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly CAFO entries (3), 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 Farnam?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Farnam's scale — its 5b band and its 182-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Farnam'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 Farnam’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Farnam's own scale — its own ~182-day season between 28°F freezes, the 431 acres it covers and 8 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Farnam's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Farnam's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 19 and the ~182-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 8 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Farnam, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Farnam's boundary and the 431 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~182-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Farnam's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Farnam's 431 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dawson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dawson 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 Dawson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Farnam's 431 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Farnam you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 431 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 Farnam-wide figureread your own land →
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