Central Valley, Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Central 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 Central 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 Central Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Central Valley — the short answer
Central Valley, Utah: USDA zone 6a, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- 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 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 Central Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Central Valley's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Central Valley
Each reading below is measured for Central Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCentral Valley runs about 162 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
MeasuredCentral 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 Central Valley is in
Central Valley sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Central Valley's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Sevier County is mostly Wasatch and Uinta Mountains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Central Valley
Every plant below cleared Central Valley's own zone 6a and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Central Valley?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Central Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Central Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AMAZON.COM SERVICES LLC - WUT4Brownfields · 1.9 mi
- KEYLOCKUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- CONVENIENCE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- RANDYS ENGINE & MACHINEBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- COVE VIEW GOLF COURSE MAINT.SHEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- ROBERTSON ROOSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- ROBERTSON'S ROOSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- RICHFIELD CITY AIRPORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- CEMENT PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- SUNNY SHOPPERUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- HOME DEPOT STORE #4422Brownfields · 3.4 mi
- WALMART SUPERCENTER #5168Brownfields · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Central 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 Central Valley.
Total Sites
89
within ~10 miles of Central Valley
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Central Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Central Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Central Valley, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Central Valley — CAFO (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (66 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Central 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 Central Valley average
Your land is one point inside Central Valley
Everything above resolves to Central 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 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 Valley Average
Central Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Central Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Central Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Central Valley's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Central Valley's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Central Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Central Valley, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Central Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Central Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Central Valley average
How we know this about Central Valley
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 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 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 Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Central Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Central Valley 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 Central Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Central Valley typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Central Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Central Valley sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 24, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Central Valley?
The federal record around Central Valley shows 89 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (66), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.9 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 Valley?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Central Valley's scale — its 6a band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Central 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 Central Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Central Valley's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,348 acres it covers and 89 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Central Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Central Valley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 8 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 89 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Central Valley, the closest Brownfields record about 1.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Central Valley's boundary and the 1,348 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Central Valley 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 Valley's 1,348 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sevier County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sevier 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 Sevier County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Central Valley's 1,348 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Central 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 1,348 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.9 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 Valley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Utah
Wider growing context
What grows across UtahCentral Valley sits outside our named growing regions, so Utah as a whole is its closest context here.