Thedford, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Thedford, 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 Thedford 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 Thedford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Thedford — the short answer
Thedford, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 154 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- 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
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 154 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 Thedford's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Thedford's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Thedford
Each reading below is measured for Thedford itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredThedford runs about 173 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
MeasuredThedford 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 Thedford is in
Thedford sits in the Nebraska Sand Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Thedford's own centroid rather than borrowed from Thomas County.
What Grows in Thedford
Every plant below cleared Thedford's own zone 5b and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Thedford?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Thedford
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Thedford. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- THEDFORD HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 300 ft
- GRANDMA HAAKESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
Measured from Thedford'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 Thedford.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Thedford
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Thedford
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 Thedford average
Your land is one point inside Thedford
Everything above resolves to Thedford as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 154 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 Thedford Average
Thedford Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Thedford
- ●One soil character for all of Thedford
- ●Frost dates read at Thedford's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Thedford's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Thedford
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Thedford, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Thedford averages can't show:
We read public map data around Thedford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Thedford average
How we know this about Thedford
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 Thedford’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 Thedford
When does frost risk typically end in Thedford?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Thedford typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Thedford?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Thedford 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 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Thedford?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Thedford sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 2, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Thedford?
The federal record around Thedford is light — 2 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (1), the nearest Brownfields 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 Thedford?
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 Thedford's scale — its 5b band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Thedford'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 Thedford’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Thedford's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 154 acres it covers and 2 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Thedford's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Thedford's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 16 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 2 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Thedford, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Thedford's boundary and the 154 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Thedford's own centroid, the Nebraska Sand HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Thedford's 154 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Thomas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Thomas 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 Thomas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Thedford's 154 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Thedford you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 154 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Thedford-wide figureread your own land →
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