Preston, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Preston, 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 Preston 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 Preston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Preston — the short answer
Preston, Nevada: USDA zone 6a, about 137 days between hard freezes, across 827 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~137
- 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 6a is Preston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Preston's 137-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Preston
Each reading below is measured for Preston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPreston runs about 137 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
MeasuredPreston 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 Preston is in
Preston sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Preston's own centroid rather than borrowed from White Pine County.
What Grows in Preston
Every plant below cleared Preston's own zone 6a and its 137-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Preston?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 1 — 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 Preston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Preston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 207 N12 E62 06BABD1Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 207 N12 E62 17CDBD1Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- Kirch Wildlife Mgmt Area-ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- NDOT-Lund-ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- DAN F HALSTEAD AND SONSBrownfields · 4.7 mi
- Carters Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- Lund High School-ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- 207 N13 E61 09D 2Nitrate · 6.6 mi
- HendrixMining · 7.2 mi
- Sawmill Canyon MineMining · 7.7 mi
- Saw Mill MineMining · 8.0 mi
Measured from Preston'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 Preston.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Preston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Preston
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •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 Preston
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 Preston average
Your land is one point inside Preston
Everything above resolves to Preston 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 Preston Average
Preston Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Preston
- ●One soil character for all of Preston
- ●Frost dates read at Preston's scale: May 17 to Oct 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Preston's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Preston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Preston, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Preston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Preston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Preston average
How we know this about Preston
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 Preston’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 Preston
When does frost risk typically end in Preston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Preston typically lands around May 17, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Preston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Preston typically arrives around Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 17, so the watching starts about Sep 1 — about 137 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Preston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Preston sees about 137 frost-free days — roughly May 17 through Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 7 to Sep 17, about 102 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Preston?
The federal record around Preston is a meaningful one — 15 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (6), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.7 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 Preston?
With about 137 frost-free days between hard freezes, Preston 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 165 to 193 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 17 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Preston's scale — its 6a band and its 137-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Preston'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 Preston’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Preston's own scale — its own ~137-day season between 28°F freezes, the 827 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Preston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Preston's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 17 and Oct 1 and the ~137-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Preston, the closest Nitrate record about 1.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Preston's boundary and the 827 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~137-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Preston'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 Preston's 827 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom White Pine County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom White Pine 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 White Pine County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Preston's 827 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Preston 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 Nitrate record about 1.7 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 Preston-wide figureread your own land →