Merrill, Oregon, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Merrill, 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 Merrill 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 Merrill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Merrill — the short answer
Merrill, Oregon: USDA zone 6b, about 133 days between hard freezes, across 307 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~133
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 307 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 Merrill's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Merrill's 133-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Merrill
Each reading below is measured for Merrill itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMerrill runs about 133 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
MeasuredMerrill 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 Merrill is in
Merrill sits in the Eastern Cascades Slopes and Foothills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Merrill's own centroid rather than borrowed from Klamath County.
What Grows in Merrill
Every plant below cleared Merrill's own zone 6b and its 133-day season. Each card opens that plant's Oregon profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Merrill?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 26 — 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 Merrill
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Merrill. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- USWEST COMMUNICATIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- A & M TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- MERRILL SHELL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- POPE RANCHES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- CITY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- FRANKO #44Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- MERRILEES OIL COMPANY, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- FLOYD A. BOYD CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- OREM & SONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- SIERRA CASCADE NURSERY INCBrownfields · 3.3 mi
- LYMAN FARMS, LLCBrownfields · 4.3 mi
- LYMAN FARMSBrownfields · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Merrill'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 Merrill.
Total Sites
49
within ~10 miles of Merrill
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Merrill
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Merrill
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Merrill
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 Merrill average
Your land is one point inside Merrill
Everything above resolves to Merrill as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 307 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 Merrill Average
Merrill Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Merrill
- ●One soil character for all of Merrill
- ●Frost dates read at Merrill's scale: May 16 to Sep 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Merrill's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Merrill
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Merrill, Oregon — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Merrill averages can't show:
We read public map data around Merrill — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Merrill average
How we know this about Merrill
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 Merrill’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 Merrill
When does frost risk typically end in Merrill?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Merrill typically lands around May 16, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Merrill?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Merrill typically arrives around Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 12, so the watching starts about Aug 27 — about 133 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Merrill?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Merrill sees about 133 frost-free days — roughly May 16 through Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 6 to Sep 12, about 98 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Merrill?
The federal record around Merrill is a meaningful one — 49 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (23), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Merrill?
With about 133 frost-free days between hard freezes, Merrill 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 161 to 189 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 16 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Merrill's scale — its 6b band and its 133-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Merrill'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 Merrill’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Merrill's own scale — its own ~133-day season between 28°F freezes, the 307 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Merrill's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Merrill's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 16 and Sep 26 and the ~133-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Merrill, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Merrill's boundary and the 307 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~133-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Merrill's own centroid, the Eastern Cascades Slopes and FoothillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Merrill's 307 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Klamath County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Klamath 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 Klamath County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Merrill's 307 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Merrill you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 307 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Merrill-wide figureread your own land →
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