Gardnerville, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Gardnerville, 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 Gardnerville 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 Gardnerville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gardnerville — the short answer
Gardnerville, Nevada: USDA zone 6b, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Gardnerville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gardnerville's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gardnerville
Each reading below is measured for Gardnerville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGardnerville runs about 147 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
MeasuredGardnerville 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 Gardnerville is in
Gardnerville sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Gardnerville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Douglas County.
What Grows in Gardnerville
Every plant below cleared Gardnerville's own zone 6b and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gardnerville?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Gardnerville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gardnerville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Chichester Ranch - ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Smith's Fuel Center #389Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WALGREENS #9864Brownfields · 1300 ft
- Park Place AM/PMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- AUTOZONE #4158Brownfields · 1400 ft
- NDOT-Old Gardnerville Shop-ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 105 N12 E20 4ADA 1 Town of Gardnerville 6Nitrate · 2000 ft
- Douglas Co Parks & Recreation DeptsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GREAT VALLEY SHELLBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Gardnerville Town Water CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Eagle GardnervilleUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gardnerville'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 Gardnerville.
Total Sites
871
within ~10 miles of Gardnerville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gardnerville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gardnerville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gardnerville, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 698 sites within ~10 miles of Gardnerville. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Gardnerville
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 Gardnerville average
Your land is one point inside Gardnerville
Everything above resolves to Gardnerville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Gardnerville Average
Gardnerville Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Gardnerville
- ●One soil character for all of Gardnerville
- ●Frost dates read at Gardnerville's scale: May 12 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gardnerville's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gardnerville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gardnerville, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gardnerville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gardnerville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gardnerville average
How we know this about Gardnerville
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 Gardnerville’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 Gardnerville
When does frost risk typically end in Gardnerville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gardnerville typically lands around May 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 Jun 2.
When is the first frost in Gardnerville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gardnerville typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gardnerville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gardnerville sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 22, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gardnerville?
The federal record around Gardnerville is a meaningful one — 871 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (698), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Gardnerville?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Gardnerville 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 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 12 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Gardnerville's scale — its 6b band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gardnerville'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 Gardnerville’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Gardnerville's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,072 acres it covers and 871 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gardnerville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gardnerville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Oct 6 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 871 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gardnerville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gardnerville's boundary and the 3,072 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gardnerville'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 Gardnerville's 3,072 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 Gardnerville's 3,072 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gardnerville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,072 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 Gardnerville-wide figureread your own land →
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