Piute County, in Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Piute County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Piute County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Piute County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Piute County — the short answer
Piute County, Utah: USDA zone 6a, about 142 days between hard freezes, across 485K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~142
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 485K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Piute County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Piute County's 142-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Piute County
Across a year, Piute County accumulates about 1,727 growing degree days above 50°F, about 785 fewer than the middle Utah county — ahead of 6 of Utah’s 29 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Piute County
Across Piute County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Millmeadow, Hiko Peak, and Woody are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a gravelly loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.6–8.2, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
4%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Piute County
The USDA soil survey maps 83% of Piute County as well drained — but another 13% drains differently: 7% somewhat excessively drained, 3% poorly drained.
Millmeadow is the most extensive named soil at 15% of mapped acres, then Hiko Peak (13%) and Woody (11%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Piute County
Each reading below is measured for Piute County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Piute County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Piute County runs about pH 7.6–8.2, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredPiute County runs about 142 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
MeasuredPiute County 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 Piute County is in
Piute County sits in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Piute County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Piute County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 142-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile.
Is it too late to plant in Piute County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 3 — 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 gets applied to farmland in Piute County
USGS estimates 2,346 lb of Glyphosate on Piute County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Chlorpyrifos (897 lb) and 2,4-d (495 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Piute County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Piute County — 126 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Piute County carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Piute County
Closest first, across Piute County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Tunnel Extension No. 2 MineMining · 2000 ft
- UnknownMining · 6.6 mi
- Amber ShaftMining · 6.7 mi
- Piute Ridge ProspectMining · 7.2 mi
- Piute Ridge No 2 AditMining · 7.3 mi
- Piute Ridge #2 AditsMining · 7.3 mi
- Blood MineMining · 7.5 mi
- Monte Del Rey MineMining · 7.6 mi
- DEER TRAIL MINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- Blind Spring ProspectMining · 7.9 mi
- OLD SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.4 mi
- SCHOOL DISTRICT BUS SHEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Piute County'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 Piute County.
Sources Checked
across Piute County
Severity Distribution
across Piute County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Piute County, two things run higher than the national average across Piute County — Mining (87 sites) and CAFO (7 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Piute County
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 Piute County average
Your land is one point inside Piute County
Everything above resolves to Piute County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 485K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Piute County Average
Piute County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Piute County
- ●One soil character for all of Piute County
- ●Frost dates read at Piute County's scale: May 14 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Piute County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Piute County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Piute County, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Piute County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Piute County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Piute County average
How we know this about Piute County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Piute County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Piute County
When does frost risk typically end in Piute County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Piute County typically lands around May 14, 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 4.
How long is the growing season in Piute County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Piute County sees about 142 frost-free days — roughly May 14 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 4 to Sep 19, about 107 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Piute County?
The federal record around Piute County runs heavier than most — 126 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (87), the nearest Mining record about 0.4 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Piute County?
With about 142 frost-free days between hard freezes, Piute County 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 170 to 198 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 14 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Piute County's scale — its 6a band and its 142-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Piute County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Utah's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Piute County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Piute County's own scale — its own ~142-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 126 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Piute County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Piute County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~142-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Piute CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 126 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Mining record about 0.4 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Piute County's boundary and the 485,254 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~142-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Piute County sitting wholly inside the Wasatch and Uinta MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Piute County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Utah grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Utah
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Piute County — the ~142 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Piute County's 485,254 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 126 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Piute Countyread your own land →