Ruth, Nevada, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, okra, cranberry, lavender, and pumpkin all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Ruth, 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 Ruth 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 Ruth — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ruth — the short answer
Ruth, Nevada: USDA zone 5a, about 117 days between hard freezes, across 221 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~117
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 221 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 Ruth's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ruth's 117-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ruth
Each reading below is measured for Ruth itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRuth runs about 117 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
MeasuredRuth 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 Ruth is in
Ruth sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Ruth's own centroid rather than borrowed from White Pine County.
What Grows in Ruth
Every plant below cleared Ruth's own zone 5a and its 117-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nevada profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ruth?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around May 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 24 — 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 Ruth
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ruth. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RUTH NV 2024 LEAD ASSESSMENTSuperfund · 350 ft
- Ruth Elem School-ClosedUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- ROBINSON NEVADA MINING COBrownfields · 900 ft
- ROBINSON NEVADA MINING COToxics Release Inventory · 900 ft
- Kennecott Nevada Mines DivisionUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Copper Queen ClaimMining · 2400 ft
- Sophie ClaimMining · 2400 ft
- Blair and Pine Grove ClaimsMining · 0.8 mi
- Federal ElyMining · 1.0 mi
- Columbia MineMining · 1.1 mi
- Precipitation PlantMining · 1.1 mi
- Deep RuthMining · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ruth'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 Ruth.
Total Sites
174
within ~10 miles of Ruth
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ruth
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ruth
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ruth, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ruth — Mining (80 sites) and Superfund (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Ruth
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 Ruth average
Your land is one point inside Ruth
Everything above resolves to Ruth as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 221 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 Ruth Average
Ruth Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Ruth
- ●One soil character for all of Ruth
- ●Frost dates read at Ruth's scale: May 30 to Sep 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ruth's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ruth
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ruth, Nevada — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ruth averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ruth — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ruth average
How we know this about Ruth
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 Ruth’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 Ruth
When does frost risk typically end in Ruth?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ruth typically lands around May 30, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Ruth?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ruth typically arrives around Sep 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 10, so the watching starts about Aug 25 — about 117 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ruth?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ruth sees about 117 frost-free days — roughly May 30 through Sep 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 20 to Sep 10, about 82 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ruth?
The federal record around Ruth runs heavier than most — 174 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (80), the nearest Superfund record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Ruth?
With about 117 frost-free days between hard freezes, Ruth 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 145 to 173 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 30 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Ruth's scale — its 5a band and its 117-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ruth'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 Ruth’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ruth's own scale — its own ~117-day season between 28°F freezes, the 221 acres it covers and 174 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ruth's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ruth's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 30 and Sep 24 and the ~117-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 174 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ruth, the closest Superfund record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ruth's boundary and the 221 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~117-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ruth'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 Ruth's 221 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 Ruth's 221 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ruth you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 221 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Superfund 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 Ruth-wide figureread your own land →