Odell, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Odell, 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 Odell 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 Odell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Odell — the short answer
Odell, Nebraska: USDA zone 6a, about 198 days between hard freezes, across 174 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 7
- 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
- ~198
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 174 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 Odell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Odell's 198-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Odell
Each reading below is measured for Odell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOdell runs about 198 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
MeasuredOdell 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 Odell is in
Odell sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Odell's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Gage County is mostly Western Corn Belt Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Odell
Every plant below cleared Odell's own zone 6a and its 198-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Odell?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 7 (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 Odell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Odell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FARMERS COOPERATIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- DILLER ODELL PUBLIC SCHOOLSBrownfields · 850 ft
- 01S 05E 01DC 01Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- 2N 6E21AD 1Nitrate · 5.8 mi
- 01S 06E 01DD 01Nitrate · 7.1 mi
- 01S 05E 07BBC 01Nitrate · 7.7 mi
- 1N 7E32CD 1Nitrate · 7.9 mi
- STEELE FLATS WIND PROJECT LLCBrownfields · 8.1 mi
- WYMORE USARTCBrownfields · 8.1 mi
- BEHRENDS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.2 mi
- 2N 5E 8AD 1 ELLISNitrate · 8.3 mi
- SPEEDEE MART 2751 WYMOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.4 mi
5 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Odell'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 Odell.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Odell
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Odell
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 Odell average
Your land is one point inside Odell
Everything above resolves to Odell as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 174 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 Odell Average
Odell Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Odell
- ●One soil character for all of Odell
- ●Frost dates read at Odell's scale: Apr 7 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Odell's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Odell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Odell, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Odell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Odell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Odell average
How we know this about Odell
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 Odell’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 Odell
When does frost risk typically end in Odell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Odell typically lands around Apr 7, 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 Apr 28.
When is the first frost in Odell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Odell 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 198 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Odell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Odell sees about 198 frost-free days — roughly Apr 7 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 28 to Oct 8, about 163 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Odell?
The federal record around Odell is light — 24 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (12), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 Odell?
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 Odell's scale — its 6a band and its 198-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Odell'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 Odell’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Odell's own scale — its own ~198-day season between 28°F freezes, the 174 acres it covers and 24 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Odell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Odell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 7 and Oct 22 and the ~198-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 24 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Odell, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Odell's boundary and the 174 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~198-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Odell sits in the Central Great Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Odell's 174 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gage County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gage 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 Gage County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Odell's 174 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Odell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 174 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 Odell-wide figureread your own land →