Eureka, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Eureka, 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 Eureka 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 Eureka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Eureka — the short answer
Eureka, Nevada: USDA zone 6b, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 827 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 827 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 Eureka's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Eureka's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Eureka
Each reading below is measured for Eureka itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEureka runs about 148 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
MeasuredEureka 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 Eureka is in
Eureka sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Eureka's own centroid rather than borrowed from Eureka County.
What Grows in Eureka
Every plant below cleared Eureka's own zone 6b and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Eureka?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Eureka
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Eureka. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Eureka County School DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- BARRICK GOLD STRIKE MINE - BLMSuperfund · 1400 ft
- UNIVERSAL GAS INC.Superfund · 1400 ft
- WESTERN-WINDFALL LTDSuperfund · 1400 ft
- Eureka County Maintenance ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- 6-000189Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- EUREKA SMELTERSuperfund · 1800 ft
- Interstate Distributing (General Store)Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- 153 N16 E54 20BAC 1Nitrate · 2100 ft
- Superintendents HomeUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Old Eureka County ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Eureka Motor SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Eureka'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 Eureka.
Total Sites
204
within ~10 miles of Eureka
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Eureka
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Eureka
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Eureka, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Eureka — Mining (154 sites) and Superfund (5 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Eureka
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 Eureka average
Your land is one point inside Eureka
Everything above resolves to Eureka as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 827 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 Eureka Average
Eureka Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Eureka
- ●One soil character for all of Eureka
- ●Frost dates read at Eureka's scale: May 16 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Eureka's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Eureka
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Eureka, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Eureka averages can't show:
We read public map data around Eureka — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Eureka average
How we know this about Eureka
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 Eureka’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 Eureka
When does frost risk typically end in Eureka?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Eureka typically lands around May 16, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Eureka?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Eureka typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Eureka?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Eureka sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 16 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 6 to Sep 27, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Eureka?
The federal record around Eureka runs heavier than most — 204 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (154), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Eureka?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Eureka 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 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 16 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Eureka's scale — its 6b band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Eureka'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 Eureka’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Eureka's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 827 acres it covers and 204 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Eureka's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Eureka's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 16 and Oct 11 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 204 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Eureka, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Eureka's boundary and the 827 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Eureka'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 Eureka's 827 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Eureka County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Eureka 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 Eureka County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Eureka's 827 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Eureka you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 827 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Eureka-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nevada
Wider growing context
What grows across NevadaEureka sits outside our named growing regions, so Nevada as a whole is its closest context here.