Holdrege, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Holdrege, 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 Holdrege 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 Holdrege — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Holdrege — the short answer
Holdrege, Nebraska: USDA zone 6a, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- 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
- ~190
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Holdrege's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Holdrege's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Holdrege
Each reading below is measured for Holdrege itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHoldrege runs about 190 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
MeasuredHoldrege 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 Holdrege is in
Holdrege sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Holdrege's own centroid rather than borrowed from Phelps County.
What Grows in Holdrege
Every plant below cleared Holdrege's own zone 6a and its 190-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Holdrege?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Holdrege
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Holdrege. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KEITHs CONOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- RUTH'S NORGE LAUNDERAMASuperfund · 900 ft
- ROBINSON MOTOR COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SPADY BUICK PONTIAC GMC TRUCK INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- HOLDREGE OPERATIONS CENTERBrownfields · 1300 ft
- WAYNE & DORIS POWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- DOUBLE D CLEANERSBrownfields · 1600 ft
- PCE WEST AVENUESuperfund · 1700 ft
- FARE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- GLENN POPPERTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CITY OF HOLDREGEBrownfields · 2200 ft
- CASEYS GENERAL STORE #1800Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Holdrege'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 Holdrege.
Total Sites
87
within ~10 miles of Holdrege
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Holdrege
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Holdrege
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Holdrege, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Holdrege — CAFO (16 sites) and Superfund (3 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.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Holdrege
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 Holdrege average
Your land is one point inside Holdrege
Everything above resolves to Holdrege as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 city 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 Holdrege Average
Holdrege Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Holdrege
- ●One soil character for all of Holdrege
- ●Frost dates read at Holdrege's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Holdrege's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Holdrege
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Holdrege, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Holdrege averages can't show:
We read public map data around Holdrege — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Holdrege average
How we know this about Holdrege
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Holdrege’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Holdrege
When does frost risk typically end in Holdrege?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Holdrege typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Holdrege?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Holdrege 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 190 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Holdrege?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Holdrege sees about 190 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 8, about 155 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Holdrege?
The federal record around Holdrege is a meaningful one — 87 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (24), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Holdrege?
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 Holdrege's scale — its 6a band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Holdrege'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 Holdrege’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Holdrege's own scale — its own ~190-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,708 acres it covers and 87 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Holdrege's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Holdrege's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 22 and the ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 87 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Holdrege, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Holdrege's boundary and the 2,708 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Holdrege's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Holdrege's 2,708 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Phelps County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Phelps 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 Phelps County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Holdrege's 2,708 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Holdrege you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,708 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Holdrege-wide figureread your own land →
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