East Valley, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in East Valley, 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 East Valley 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 East Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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East Valley — the short answer
East Valley, Nevada: USDA zone 6b, about 150 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~150
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 6K 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 6b is East Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against East Valley's 150-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in East Valley
Each reading below is measured for East Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEast Valley runs about 150 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
MeasuredEast Valley sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 East Valley is in
East Valley sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at East Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Douglas County.
What Grows in East Valley
Every plant below cleared East Valley's own zone 6b and its 150-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in East Valley?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 East Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of East Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 105 N13 E20 36CBCA1Nitrate · 750 ft
- 105 N12 E20 02AABA1Nitrate · 2000 ft
- 105 N13 E20 36BCDB1Nitrate · 2300 ft
- 105 N12 E20 02AABC1Nitrate · 2400 ft
- 105 N12 E20 02AADC1Nitrate · 2500 ft
- 105 N12 E20 01ABCB1Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- 105 N12 E20 01BDBD1Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- 105 N12 E20 01ABAA1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 105 N12 E20 01BDDC1 USGS AR-2Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- 105 N13 E20 36ACAA BORDANitrate · 0.8 mi
- 105 N13 E20 35ABCB1Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 105 N13 E20 26DADD1Nitrate · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from East Valley'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 East Valley.
Total Sites
866
within ~10 miles of East Valley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of East Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of East Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around East Valley, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 694 sites within ~10 miles of East Valley. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in East Valley
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 East Valley average
Your land is one point inside East Valley
Everything above resolves to East Valley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K 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 East Valley Average
East Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across East Valley
- ●One soil character for all of East Valley
- ●Frost dates read at East Valley's scale: May 10 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not East Valley's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in East Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in East Valley, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that East Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around East Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the East Valley average
How we know this about East Valley
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 East Valley’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 East Valley
When does frost risk typically end in East Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in East Valley typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in East Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in East Valley typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 150 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in East Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, East Valley sees about 150 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 23, about 115 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in East Valley?
The federal record around East Valley is a meaningful one — 866 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (694), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 East Valley?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at East Valley's scale — its 6b band and its 150-day season. Your yard writes its own version of East Valley'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 East Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at East Valley's own scale — its own ~150-day season between 28°F freezes, the 6,295 acres it covers and 866 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- East Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- East Valley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 7 and the ~150-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 866 documented contamination sites on the federal record near East Valley, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- East Valley's boundary and the 6,295 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~150-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at East Valley's own centroid, the Central Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so East Valley's 6,295 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Douglas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Douglas County
- The growing challenges every Nevada grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Nevada
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Douglas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among East Valley's 6,295 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of East Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,295 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 East Valley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nevada
Wider growing context
What grows across NevadaEast Valley sits outside our named growing regions, so Nevada as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides