East Carbon, Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in East Carbon, 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 East Carbon 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 East Carbon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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East Carbon — the short answer
East Carbon, Utah: USDA zone 6b, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 7K 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 East Carbon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against East Carbon's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in East Carbon
Each reading below is measured for East Carbon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEast Carbon runs about 189 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
MeasuredEast Carbon 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 East Carbon is in
East Carbon sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at East Carbon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Carbon County.
What Grows in East Carbon
Every plant below cleared East Carbon's own zone 6b and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in East Carbon?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — 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 East Carbon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of East Carbon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DRAGERTON 66Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- LLOYD HUNTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- MORGANTOWN MACHINE AND HYDRAULICS OF UTAHBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- CARBON GROCERY CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FAST STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- D & B TEXACOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- EAST CARBON FIRE STN./MAIN. SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- SUNNYSIDE COGENERATION ASSOCIATESToxics Release Inventory · 2.3 mi
- JOE D. MARTINEZUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- EAST CARBON CITYPFAS · 3.3 mi
- SUNNYSIDE MINESUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- SUNNYSIDE COAL MINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from East Carbon'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 East Carbon.
Total Sites
19
within ~10 miles of East Carbon
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of East Carbon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of East Carbon
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in East Carbon
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 East Carbon average
Your land is one point inside East Carbon
Everything above resolves to East Carbon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 East Carbon Average
East Carbon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across East Carbon
- ●One soil character for all of East Carbon
- ●Frost dates read at East Carbon's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not East Carbon's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in East Carbon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in East Carbon, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that East Carbon averages can't show:
We read public map data around East Carbon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the East Carbon average
How we know this about East Carbon
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 East Carbon’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 East Carbon
When does frost risk typically end in East Carbon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in East Carbon typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in East Carbon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in East Carbon typically arrives around Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 13, so the watching starts about Sep 27 — about 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in East Carbon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, East Carbon sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 13, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in East Carbon?
The federal record around East Carbon is light — 19 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (13), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in East Carbon?
From about Sep 27 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at East Carbon's scale — its 6b band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of East Carbon'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 East Carbon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at East Carbon's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,226 acres it covers and 19 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- East Carbon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- East Carbon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 27 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 19 documented contamination sites on the federal record near East Carbon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- East Carbon's boundary and the 7,226 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at East Carbon's own centroid, the Colorado PlateausUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so East Carbon's 7,226 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Carbon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Carbon 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 Carbon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among East Carbon's 7,226 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of East Carbon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,226 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 East Carbon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Utah
Wider growing context
What grows across UtahEast Carbon sits outside our named growing regions, so Utah as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides