Central, Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, pawpaw, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Central, 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 Central 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 Central — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Central — the short answer
Central, Utah: USDA zone 7a, about 206 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~206
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 7a is Central's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Central's 206-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Central
Each reading below is measured for Central itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCentral runs about 206 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredCentral sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Central is in
Central sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Central's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Washington County is mostly Mojave Basin and Range. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Central
Every plant below cleared Central's own zone 7a and its 206-day season. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Central?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
What's on the federal record near Central
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Central. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Section 12 ProspectMining · 4.3 mi
- RED BUTTE SUBSTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- (C-39-15)14dcc- 2Nitrate · 5.5 mi
- (C-39-15)14dcd- 1Nitrate · 5.5 mi
- VEYO MERCUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- SPANISH TRAIL SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- U.S. FOREST SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- AT&T ENTERPRISE RSUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.7 mi
- FAA - BIG MOUNTAIN RMLR (QVG)Underground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- B.J. DAVISUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- Upper Mississippi Valley DistrictMining · 9.6 mi
- Stateline (Gold Springs) DistrictMining · 9.6 mi
1 more site is on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Central'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 Central.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Central
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Central
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Central
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 Central average
Your land is one point inside Central
Everything above resolves to Central as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Central Average
Central Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Central
- ●One soil character for all of Central
- ●Frost dates read at Central's scale: Apr 9 to Nov 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Central's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Central
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Central, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Central averages can't show:
We read public map data around Central — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Central average
How we know this about Central
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 Central’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 Central
When does frost risk typically end in Central?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Central typically lands around Apr 9, 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 Apr 30.
When is the first frost in Central?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Central typically arrives around Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 18, so the watching starts about Oct 2 — about 206 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Central?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Central sees about 206 frost-free days — roughly Apr 9 through Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 30 to Oct 18, about 171 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Central?
The federal record around Central shows 15 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (7), the nearest Mining record about 4.3 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 I protect my plants from frost in Central?
From about Oct 2 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 Nov 1 (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 Nov 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Central's scale — its 7a band and its 206-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Central'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 Central’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Central's own scale — its own ~206-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,611 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Central's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Central's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 9 and Nov 1 and the ~206-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Central, the closest Mining record about 4.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Central's boundary and the 1,611 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~206-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Central sits in the Central Basin and Range — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Central's 1,611 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington County
- The growing challenges every Utah grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Utah
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Central's 1,611 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Central you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,611 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 4.3 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 Central-wide figureread your own land →
More in Utah
Wider growing context
What grows across UtahCentral sits outside our named growing regions, so Utah as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides