Meadow Grove, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Meadow Grove, 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 Meadow Grove 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 Meadow Grove — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Meadow Grove — the short answer
Meadow Grove, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 177 days between hard freezes, across 195 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~177
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 195 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 Meadow Grove's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Meadow Grove's 177-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Meadow Grove
Each reading below is measured for Meadow Grove itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMeadow Grove runs about 177 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
MeasuredMeadow Grove 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 Meadow Grove is in
Meadow Grove sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Meadow Grove's own centroid rather than borrowed from Madison County.
What Grows in Meadow Grove
Every plant below cleared Meadow Grove's own zone 5a and its 177-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Meadow Grove?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Meadow Grove
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Meadow Grove. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- T-BONE NORTHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- 24N 4W35AD 1Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 24N 3W29BC 1Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- 24N 3W17CCC 2Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- 24N 3W17CCC 1Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- 24N 4W 2AA 1Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- 25N 4W35AC 1Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- TALLGRASS INTERSTATE GAS TRANSMISSION, LLCBrownfields · 4.9 mi
- ELKHORN VALLEY EQUIPMENTBrownfields · 5.0 mi
- QUICK SERVE OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- JOSHs SERVICE LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- JB MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Meadow Grove'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 Meadow Grove.
Total Sites
45
within ~10 miles of Meadow Grove
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Meadow Grove
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Meadow Grove
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Meadow Grove, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Meadow Grove — CAFO (4 sites) and Nitrate (30 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Meadow Grove
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 Meadow Grove average
Your land is one point inside Meadow Grove
Everything above resolves to Meadow Grove as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 195 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 Meadow Grove Average
Meadow Grove Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Meadow Grove
- ●One soil character for all of Meadow Grove
- ●Frost dates read at Meadow Grove's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Meadow Grove's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Meadow Grove
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Meadow Grove, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Meadow Grove averages can't show:
We read public map data around Meadow Grove — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Meadow Grove average
How we know this about Meadow Grove
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 Meadow Grove’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 Meadow Grove
When does frost risk typically end in Meadow Grove?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Meadow Grove typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Meadow Grove?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Meadow Grove typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 177 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Meadow Grove?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Meadow Grove sees about 177 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 1, about 142 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Meadow Grove?
The federal record around Meadow Grove is a meaningful one — 45 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (30), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Meadow Grove?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Meadow Grove's scale — its 5a band and its 177-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Meadow Grove'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 Meadow Grove’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Meadow Grove's own scale — its own ~177-day season between 28°F freezes, the 195 acres it covers and 45 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Meadow Grove's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Meadow Grove's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 15 and the ~177-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 45 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Meadow Grove, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Meadow Grove's boundary and the 195 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~177-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Meadow Grove'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 Meadow Grove's 195 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Madison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Madison 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 Madison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Meadow Grove's 195 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Meadow Grove you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 195 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Meadow Grove-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaMeadow Grove sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides