Lyman, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Lyman, 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 Lyman 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 Lyman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lyman — the short answer
Lyman, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 160 days between hard freezes, across 203 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~160
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 203 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 Lyman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lyman's 160-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lyman
Each reading below is measured for Lyman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLyman runs about 160 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
MeasuredLyman 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 Lyman is in
Lyman sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Lyman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Scotts Bluff County.
What Grows in Lyman
Every plant below cleared Lyman's own zone 5a and its 160-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lyman?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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 Lyman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lyman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KURT MANUFACTURING COMPANYBrownfields · 650 ft
- 23N 58W34BCCB2Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 23N 58W34BCCB1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 22N 58W 3DCCD1Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- Goshen Veterinary Clinic, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- UW Torrington Research and ExtensionUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- 23-060-21cdd01Nitrate · 2.9 mi
- 22-060-05cba01Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- LIPPINCOTT FEEDING INC.CAFO · 4.5 mi
- 23-060-10acc01Nitrate · 4.7 mi
- 23-060-10bcb01Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- GRASMICK FARMING CO INCCAFO · 4.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lyman'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 Lyman.
Total Sites
175
within ~10 miles of Lyman
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lyman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lyman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lyman, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Lyman — CAFO (6 sites) and Nitrate (154 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Lyman
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 Lyman average
Your land is one point inside Lyman
Everything above resolves to Lyman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 203 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 Lyman Average
Lyman Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Lyman
- ●One soil character for all of Lyman
- ●Frost dates read at Lyman's scale: May 1 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lyman's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lyman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lyman, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lyman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lyman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lyman average
How we know this about Lyman
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 Lyman’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 Lyman
When does frost risk typically end in Lyman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lyman typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Lyman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lyman typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 160 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lyman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lyman sees about 160 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 24, about 125 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lyman?
The federal record around Lyman shows 175 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (154), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Lyman?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lyman's scale — its 5a band and its 160-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lyman'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 Lyman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lyman's own scale — its own ~160-day season between 28°F freezes, the 203 acres it covers and 175 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lyman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lyman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 8 and the ~160-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 175 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lyman, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lyman's boundary and the 203 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~160-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lyman's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lyman's 203 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Scotts Bluff County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Scotts Bluff 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 Scotts Bluff County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lyman's 203 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lyman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 203 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 Lyman-wide figureread your own land →