John Day, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in John Day, 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 John Day 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 John Day — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
John Day — the short answer
John Day, Oregon: USDA zone 6b, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 6b is John Day's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against John Day's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in John Day
Each reading below is measured for John Day itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredJohn Day runs about 166 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
MeasuredJohn Day sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 John Day is in
John Day sits in the Blue Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at John Day's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grant County.
What Grows in John Day
Every plant below cleared John Day's own zone 6b and its 166-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in John Day?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near John Day
Closest first, within ~10 miles of John Day. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AT&T - JOHN DAY JHDYORQ5710Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- USDA FS - S.O. COMPOUNDUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- UNOCAL 4093Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- ERIC'S CHEVRON SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- USWEST - JOHN DAY C O - 010323Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- USDA USFS R06 MALHEUR NF COMPOUNDBrownfields · 950 ft
- NEI AKA GRANT COMPUTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- LEATHERS OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- GARDNER ENTERPRISES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CHEVRON USA INC - 96217Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MAINSTOP MINI MARKET & TEXACO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- SHELL STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from John Day'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 John Day.
Total Sites
139
within ~10 miles of John Day
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of John Day
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of John Day
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around John Day, Mining runs higher than the national average — 98 sites within ~10 miles of John Day. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in John Day
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 John Day average
Your land is one point inside John Day
Everything above resolves to John Day as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 city 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 John Day Average
John Day Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across John Day
- ●One soil character for all of John Day
- ●Frost dates read at John Day's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not John Day's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in John Day
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in John Day, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that John Day averages can't show:
We read public map data around John Day — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the John Day average
How we know this about John Day
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at John Day’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 John Day
When does frost risk typically end in John Day?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in John Day typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in John Day?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in John Day typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 166 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in John Day?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, John Day sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 28, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in John Day?
The federal record around John Day is a meaningful one — 139 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (98), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 I protect my plants from frost in John Day?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at John Day's scale — its 6b band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of John Day'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 John Day’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at John Day's own scale — its own ~166-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,446 acres it covers and 139 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- John Day's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- John Day's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 12 and the ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 139 documented contamination sites on the federal record near John Day, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- John Day's boundary and the 1,446 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at John Day's own centroid, the Blue MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so John Day's 1,446 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grant County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grant County
- The growing challenges every Oregon grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Oregon
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Grant County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among John Day's 1,446 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of John Day you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,446 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 John Day-wide figureread your own land →