Leigh, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Leigh, 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 Leigh 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 Leigh — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Leigh — the short answer
Leigh, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 383 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 383 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 Leigh's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Leigh's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Leigh
Each reading below is measured for Leigh itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLeigh runs about 180 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
MeasuredLeigh 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 Leigh is in
Leigh sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Leigh's own centroid rather than borrowed from Colfax County.
What Grows in Leigh
Every plant below cleared Leigh's own zone 5b and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Leigh?
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 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Leigh
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Leigh. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COOPERATIVE SUPPLY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- DONs TRUE VALUE HARDWARE/VARIETYUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- JUST ANOTHER MINI MART INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- LEIGH COMMUNITY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CALVIN URBANCAFO · 3.5 mi
- DEAN URBAN FEEDLOTCAFO · 3.5 mi
- G & A FARMS, INC.CAFO · 3.9 mi
- ROGER JINDRA LIVESTOCK NORTHCAFO · 3.9 mi
- JINDRA LIVESTOCKCAFO · 3.9 mi
- MCMULLIN TRANSFER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- HOESSEL FARMS INC.CAFO · 4.6 mi
- FOLKEN FEED YARDS, LTD.CAFO · 4.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Leigh'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 Leigh.
Total Sites
45
within ~10 miles of Leigh
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Leigh
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Leigh
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Leigh, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 24 sites within ~10 miles of Leigh. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Leigh
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 Leigh average
Your land is one point inside Leigh
Everything above resolves to Leigh as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 383 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 Leigh Average
Leigh Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Leigh
- ●One soil character for all of Leigh
- ●Frost dates read at Leigh's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Leigh's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Leigh
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Leigh, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Leigh averages can't show:
We read public map data around Leigh — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Leigh average
How we know this about Leigh
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 Leigh’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 Leigh
When does frost risk typically end in Leigh?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Leigh typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Leigh?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Leigh typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Leigh?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Leigh sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 2, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Leigh?
The federal record around Leigh is light — 45 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly CAFO entries (24), 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 Leigh?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Leigh's scale — its 5b band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Leigh'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 Leigh’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Leigh's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 383 acres it covers and 45 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Leigh's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Leigh's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 16 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 45 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Leigh, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Leigh's boundary and the 383 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Leigh's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Leigh's 383 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Colfax County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Colfax 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 Colfax County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Leigh's 383 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Leigh you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 383 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 Leigh-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaLeigh sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.