Golden Valley, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, prickly pear, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Golden 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 Golden 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 Golden Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Golden Valley — the short answer
Golden Valley, Nevada: USDA zone 7b, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 7b is Golden Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Golden Valley's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Golden Valley
Each reading below is measured for Golden Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGolden Valley runs about 186 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
MeasuredGolden Valley sits in USDA hardiness zone 7b.
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 Golden Valley is in
Golden Valley sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Golden Valley's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Washoe County is mostly Northern Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Golden Valley
Every plant below cleared Golden Valley's own zone 7b and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Golden Valley?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — 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 Golden Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Golden Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 092B N20 E19 11BCAA2Nitrate · 1300 ft
- 092B N20 E19 11BAA 1Nitrate · 1500 ft
- 092B N20 E19 11CAAC2Nitrate · 1800 ft
- 092B N20 E19 11ABCB1Nitrate · 2100 ft
- 092B N20 E19 11ABBC1Nitrate · 2200 ft
- 092B N20 E19 11CACC1Nitrate · 2300 ft
- 092B N20 E19 03DDCD1Nitrate · 2400 ft
- 092B N20 E19 10DDDD1Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- 092B N20 E19 11CDDD1Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- Colyer ProspectMining · 0.8 mi
- 092B N20 E19 03DCB 1Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 092B N20 E19 10BCA 1Nitrate · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Golden 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 Golden Valley.
Total Sites
1,726
within ~10 miles of Golden Valley
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
10 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Golden Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Golden Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Golden 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 Golden Valley average
Your land is one point inside Golden Valley
Everything above resolves to Golden Valley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Golden Valley Average
Golden Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 7b, averaged across Golden Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Golden Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Golden Valley's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Golden Valley's 7b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Golden Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Golden Valley, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Golden Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Golden Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Golden Valley average
How we know this about Golden 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 Golden 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 Golden Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Golden Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Golden Valley typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Golden Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Golden Valley typically arrives around Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 13, so the watching starts about Sep 27 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Golden Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Golden Valley sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 13, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Golden Valley?
The federal record around Golden Valley runs heavier than most — 1,726 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (824), the nearest Nitrate 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 I protect my plants from frost in Golden Valley?
From about Sep 27 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Golden Valley's scale — its 7b band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Golden 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 Golden Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Golden Valley's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,313 acres it covers and 1,726 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Golden Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Golden Valley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 27 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,726 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Golden Valley, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Golden Valley's boundary and the 2,313 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7b and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Golden Valley sits in the Central Basin and Range — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Golden Valley's 2,313 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washoe County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washoe 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 Washoe County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Golden Valley's 2,313 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Golden 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 2,313 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Golden Valley-wide figureread your own land →
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