Owyhee, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Owyhee, 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 Owyhee 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 Owyhee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Owyhee — the short answer
Owyhee, Nevada: USDA zone 6a, about 142 days between hard freezes, across 144K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~142
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 144K 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 6a is Owyhee's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Owyhee's 142-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Owyhee
Each reading below is measured for Owyhee itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOwyhee runs about 142 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
MeasuredOwyhee sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Owyhee is in
Owyhee sits in the Northern Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Owyhee's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Elko County is mostly Central Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Owyhee
Every plant below cleared Owyhee's own zone 6a and its 142-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Owyhee?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — 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 Owyhee
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Owyhee. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PeteMining · 4.2 mi
- Nevada Div of ForestryUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- Mountain City Rd Admin SiteUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- Elko County School DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- Coyote MineMining · 9.0 mi
- OwyeeMining · 9.5 mi
- Rh Claim GroupMining · 9.9 mi
Measured from Owyhee'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 Owyhee.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Owyhee
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Owyhee
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 Owyhee average
Your land is one point inside Owyhee
Everything above resolves to Owyhee as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 144K 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 Owyhee Average
Owyhee Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Owyhee
- ●One soil character for all of Owyhee
- ●Frost dates read at Owyhee's scale: May 13 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Owyhee's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Owyhee
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Owyhee, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Owyhee averages can't show:
We read public map data around Owyhee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Owyhee average
How we know this about Owyhee
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 Owyhee’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 Owyhee
When does frost risk typically end in Owyhee?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Owyhee typically lands around May 13, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Owyhee?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Owyhee typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 142 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Owyhee?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Owyhee sees about 142 frost-free days — roughly May 13 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 3 to Sep 18, about 107 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Owyhee?
The federal record around Owyhee shows 7 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (4), the nearest Mining record about 4.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Owyhee?
With about 142 frost-free days between hard freezes, Owyhee 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 170 to 198 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 13 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Owyhee's scale — its 6a band and its 142-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Owyhee'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 Owyhee’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Owyhee's own scale — its own ~142-day season between 28°F freezes, the 143,607 acres it covers and 7 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Owyhee's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Owyhee's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 13 and Oct 2 and the ~142-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 7 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Owyhee, the closest Mining record about 4.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Owyhee's boundary and the 143,607 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~142-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Owyhee sits in the Northern 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 Owyhee's 143,607 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 Owyhee's 143,607 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Owyhee you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 143,607 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 4.2 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 Owyhee-wide figureread your own land →