Elko, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Elko, 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 Elko 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 Elko — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Elko — the short answer
Elko, Nevada: USDA zone 5b, about 135 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~135
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 11K 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 Elko's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elko's 135-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Elko
Each reading below is measured for Elko itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredElko runs about 135 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredElko 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 Elko is in
Elko sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Elko's own centroid rather than borrowed from Elko County.
What Grows in Elko
Every plant below cleared Elko's own zone 5b and its 135-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Elko?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Elko
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Elko. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Elko School Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- GREAT BASIN COLLEGEBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Northern Region Office-ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- PINE STREET LEAD ASSESSMENTSuperfund · 1900 ft
- Alltel/CP National CorporationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Dee Gold Mining CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Wildhorse Reservoir St Rec Area-ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Jiggs BarUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Old Post Office & General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Union Pacific RailroadUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Fagoaga PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Elko Mountain Communication SiteUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Elko'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 Elko.
Total Sites
176
within ~10 miles of Elko
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Elko
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Elko
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Elko, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Elko. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Elko
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 Elko average
Your land is one point inside Elko
Everything above resolves to Elko as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 11K 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 Elko Average
Elko Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Elko
- ●One soil character for all of Elko
- ●Frost dates read at Elko's scale: May 14 to Sep 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elko's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Elko
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elko, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elko averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elko — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elko average
How we know this about Elko
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 Elko’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 Elko
When does frost risk typically end in Elko?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elko typically lands around May 14, 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 Jun 4.
When is the first frost in Elko?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Elko typically arrives around Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 12, so the watching starts about Aug 27 — about 135 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Elko?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elko sees about 135 frost-free days — roughly May 14 through Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 4 to Sep 12, about 100 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elko?
The federal record around Elko is a meaningful one — 176 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (104), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Elko?
With about 135 frost-free days between hard freezes, Elko rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 163 to 191 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 14 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Elko's scale — its 5b band and its 135-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elko'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 Elko’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Elko's own scale — its own ~135-day season between 28°F freezes, the 11,421 acres it covers and 176 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elko's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Elko's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 14 and Sep 26 and the ~135-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 176 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Elko, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Elko's boundary and the 11,421 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~135-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Elko'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 Elko's 11,421 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Elko County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Elko 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 Elko County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Elko's 11,421 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Elko you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,421 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 Elko-wide figureread your own land →