Wood River, 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.
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 Wood River, 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 Wood River 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 Wood River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wood River — the short answer
Wood River, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 192 days between hard freezes, across 724 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~192
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 724 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 Wood River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wood River's 192-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wood River
Each reading below is measured for Wood River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWood River runs about 192 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
MeasuredWood River 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 Wood River is in
Wood River sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wood River's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hall County.
What Grows in Wood River
Every plant below cleared Wood River's own zone 5b and its 192-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wood River?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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 Wood River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wood River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CASEYS GENERAL STORE #2606Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- THELEN GRAIN COCAFO · 700 ft
- THELEN GRAIN TANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CARL HARDERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- WOOD RIVER TBSBrownfields · 1600 ft
- GREEN PLAINS WOOD RIVER LLCToxics Release Inventory · 1700 ft
- GREEN PLAINS WOOD RIVER LLCBrownfields · 1700 ft
- 10N 11W19BD 1Nitrate · 1900 ft
- WILLIAM PACKER LIVESTOCK SWCAFO · 2.5 mi
- 10N 12W11CCCC3 Site5-55Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- 10N 12W11CCCC2-Site5-45Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- 10N 12W11CCCC4-Site5-64Nitrate · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wood River'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 Wood River.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wood River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wood River
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wood River, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Wood River — CAFO (9 sites) and Nitrate (86 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 Wood River
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 Wood River average
Your land is one point inside Wood River
Everything above resolves to Wood River as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 724 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 city 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 Wood River Average
Wood River Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Wood River
- ●One soil character for all of Wood River
- ●Frost dates read at Wood River's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wood River's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wood River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wood River, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wood River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wood River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wood River average
How we know this about Wood River
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Wood River’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Wood River
When does frost risk typically end in Wood River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wood River typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Wood River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wood River typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 192 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wood River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wood River sees about 192 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 7, about 157 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wood River?
The federal record around Wood River is a meaningful one — 127 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (86), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Wood River?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wood River's scale — its 5b band and its 192-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wood River'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 Wood River’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wood River's own scale — its own ~192-day season between 28°F freezes, the 724 acres it covers and 127 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wood River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wood River's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 21 and the ~192-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 127 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wood River, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wood River's boundary and the 724 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~192-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wood River's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wood River's 724 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hall County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hall 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 Hall County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wood River's 724 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wood River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 724 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 Wood River-wide figureread your own land →
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