Osino, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include okra, cranberry, lavender, and pumpkin, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Osino, 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 Osino 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 Osino — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Osino — the short answer
Osino, Nevada: USDA zone 5a, about 112 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~112
- 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 5a is Osino's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Osino's 112-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Osino
Each reading below is measured for Osino itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOsino runs about 112 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
MeasuredOsino sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Osino is in
Osino sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Osino's own centroid rather than borrowed from Elko County.
What Grows in Osino
Every plant below cleared Osino's own zone 5a and its 112-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Osino?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Osino
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Osino. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- OSINO GRINDING PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- Ryndon Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Nevada Youth Training Center (NYTC)Underground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- THE ROCK INVESTMENT GROUP INCBrownfields · 5.4 mi
- P & H MINE PRO SERVICESToxics Release Inventory · 5.6 mi
- JOY GLOBAL SURFACE MININGBrownfields · 5.6 mi
- VEZERS PRECISION CONSTRUCTORSBrownfields · 5.6 mi
- CASHMAN EQUIPMENT COMPANYBrownfields · 5.7 mi
- SMITH POWER PRODUCTS INCBrownfields · 5.8 mi
- Corta & Laga Enterprizes IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE - ELKO OFFICEBrownfields · 6.0 mi
- Ogilvie ProspectMining · 6.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Osino'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 Osino.
Total Sites
164
within ~10 miles of Osino
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Osino
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Osino
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Osino, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Osino — Superfund (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (101 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Osino
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 Osino average
Your land is one point inside Osino
Everything above resolves to Osino 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 Osino Average
Osino Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Osino
- ●One soil character for all of Osino
- ●Frost dates read at Osino's scale: May 28 to Sep 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Osino's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Osino
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Osino, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Osino averages can't show:
We read public map data around Osino — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Osino average
How we know this about Osino
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 Osino’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 Osino
When does frost risk typically end in Osino?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Osino typically lands around May 28, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Osino?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Osino typically arrives around Sep 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 3, so the watching starts about Aug 18 — about 112 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Osino?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Osino sees about 112 frost-free days — roughly May 28 through Sep 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 18 to Sep 3, about 77 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Osino?
The federal record around Osino is a meaningful one — 164 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (101), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.7 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 Osino?
With about 112 frost-free days between hard freezes, Osino 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 140 to 168 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 28 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Osino's scale — its 5a band and its 112-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Osino'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 Osino’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Osino's own scale — its own ~112-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,649 acres it covers and 164 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Osino's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Osino's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 28 and Sep 17 and the ~112-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 164 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Osino, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Osino's boundary and the 1,649 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~112-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Osino'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 Osino's 1,649 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 Osino's 1,649 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Osino you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,649 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.7 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 Osino-wide figureread your own land →