What Grows in Seventh Mountain, Oregon

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Seventh Mountain typically lands around May 13, 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 3.

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Seventh Mountain typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Seventh Mountain sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 13 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 3 to Sep 25, about 114 days.

The federal record around Seventh Mountain is a meaningful one — 361 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (181), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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.

With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Seventh Mountain 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 13 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.