Jordan Valley, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Jordan Valley, 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 Jordan Valley 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 Jordan Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Jordan Valley — the short answer
Jordan Valley, Oregon: USDA zone 6a, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- 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 6a is Jordan Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jordan Valley's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Jordan Valley
Each reading below is measured for Jordan Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredJordan Valley runs about 149 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
MeasuredJordan Valley 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 Jordan Valley is in
Jordan Valley sits in the Northern Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Jordan Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Malheur County.
What Grows in Jordan Valley
Every plant below cleared Jordan Valley's own zone 6a and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Jordan Valley?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Jordan Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Jordan Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- OR STATE HWY 5-14 JORDAN VALLEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- JIM'S TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- CHEVRON STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- KERSHNER FEEDLOTCAFO · 4.4 mi
- 525 Peterson (MAL005)Nitrate · 5.5 mi
- Eagle Rock PlacersMining · 8.8 mi
- Jayzell ClaimsMining · 9.6 mi
Measured from Jordan Valley'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 Jordan Valley.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Jordan Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Jordan Valley
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.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Jordan Valley
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 Jordan Valley average
Your land is one point inside Jordan Valley
Everything above resolves to Jordan Valley 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 Jordan Valley Average
Jordan Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Jordan Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Jordan Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Jordan Valley's scale: May 8 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jordan Valley's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Jordan Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jordan Valley, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jordan Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jordan Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jordan Valley average
How we know this about Jordan Valley
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 Jordan Valley’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 Jordan Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Jordan Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jordan Valley typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Jordan Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Jordan Valley typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Jordan Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jordan Valley sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 20, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Jordan Valley?
The federal record around Jordan Valley shows 9 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (3), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Jordan Valley?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Jordan Valley 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 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 8 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Jordan Valley's scale — its 6a band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jordan Valley'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 Jordan Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Jordan Valley's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,331 acres it covers and 9 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jordan Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Jordan Valley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 4 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 9 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Jordan Valley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Jordan Valley's boundary and the 1,331 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Jordan Valley's own centroid, the Northern Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Jordan Valley's 1,331 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Malheur County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Malheur 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 Malheur County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jordan Valley's 1,331 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Jordan Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,331 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Jordan Valley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Oregon
Wider growing context
What grows across OregonJordan Valley sits outside our named growing regions, so Oregon as a whole is its closest context here.