Giltner, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Giltner, 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 Giltner 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 Giltner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Giltner — the short answer
Giltner, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 248 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 248 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 Giltner's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Giltner's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Giltner
Each reading below is measured for Giltner itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGiltner runs about 195 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
MeasuredGiltner 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 Giltner is in
Giltner sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Giltner's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hamilton County.
What Grows in Giltner
Every plant below cleared Giltner's own zone 5b and its 195-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Giltner?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 Giltner
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Giltner. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LINDQUIST INCBrownfields · 600 ft
- DARRELL HOSIERUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- KHNE TV CH 29Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- 10N 7W34CC 1Nitrate · 2.4 mi
- 10N 8W24AB 1Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 9N 7W27BC 1Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- 10N 7W26DA 1Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- 9N 8W35DD 1Nitrate · 5.4 mi
- REESON FEEDING, INC.CAFO · 6.0 mi
- 9N 6W 6DA 1Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 10N 8W10CCBB1Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- THE IAMS COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 7.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Giltner'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 Giltner.
Total Sites
111
within ~10 miles of Giltner
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Giltner
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Giltner
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Giltner, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Giltner — CAFO (4 sites) and Nitrate (66 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Giltner
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 Giltner average
Your land is one point inside Giltner
Everything above resolves to Giltner as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 248 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 Giltner Average
Giltner Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Giltner
- ●One soil character for all of Giltner
- ●Frost dates read at Giltner's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Giltner's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Giltner
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Giltner, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Giltner averages can't show:
We read public map data around Giltner — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Giltner average
How we know this about Giltner
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 Giltner’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 Giltner
When does frost risk typically end in Giltner?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Giltner typically lands around Apr 10, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Giltner?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Giltner typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 195 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Giltner?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Giltner sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 8, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Giltner?
The federal record around Giltner is a meaningful one — 111 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (66), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Giltner?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Giltner's scale — its 5b band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Giltner'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 Giltner’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Giltner's own scale — its own ~195-day season between 28°F freezes, the 248 acres it covers and 111 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Giltner's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Giltner's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 22 and the ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 111 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Giltner, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Giltner's boundary and the 248 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Giltner's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Giltner's 248 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hamilton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hamilton 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 Hamilton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Giltner's 248 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Giltner you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 248 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Giltner-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Growing region