Elk Ridge, Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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.
Even in Elk Ridge, 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 Elk Ridge 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 Elk Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Elk Ridge — the short answer
Elk Ridge, Utah: USDA zone 6b, about 187 days between hard freezes, across 2K 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 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~187
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 6b is Elk Ridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elk Ridge's 187-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Elk Ridge
Each reading below is measured for Elk Ridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredElk Ridge runs about 187 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
MeasuredElk Ridge 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 Elk Ridge is in
Elk Ridge sits in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Elk Ridge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Utah County.
What Grows in Elk Ridge
Every plant below cleared Elk Ridge's own zone 6b and its 187-day season. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Elk Ridge?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Elk Ridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Elk Ridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GLADSTAN GOLF COURSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- WOODLAND HILLS CITYBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- (D- 9- 2)14cbc- 1Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- WALT LIMBS CONSTRUCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Eldorado No. 1 & Eldorado No. 2 GroupMining · 1.9 mi
- (D- 9- 2)21bdd- 1Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- H.E. DAVIS & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Eldorado No 1 and No 2 GroupMining · 2.6 mi
- (D- 9- 2)10ddb- 1Nitrate · 2.6 mi
- SALEM CITYPFAS · 2.6 mi
- FORMER PET SHELTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- GAS N GOUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Elk Ridge'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 Elk Ridge.
Total Sites
309
within ~10 miles of Elk Ridge
Risk Level
High
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Elk Ridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Elk Ridge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Elk Ridge, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Elk Ridge — PFAS (6 sites) and Mining (27 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Elk Ridge
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 Elk Ridge average
Your land is one point inside Elk Ridge
Everything above resolves to Elk Ridge 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 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 Elk Ridge Average
Elk Ridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Elk Ridge
- ●One soil character for all of Elk Ridge
- ●Frost dates read at Elk Ridge's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elk Ridge's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Elk Ridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elk Ridge, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elk Ridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elk Ridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elk Ridge average
How we know this about Elk Ridge
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 Elk Ridge’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 Elk Ridge
When does frost risk typically end in Elk Ridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elk Ridge 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 Elk Ridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Elk Ridge typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 187 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Elk Ridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elk Ridge sees about 187 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 11, about 152 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elk Ridge?
The federal record around Elk Ridge runs heavier than most — 309 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (125), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 I protect my plants from frost in Elk Ridge?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Elk Ridge's scale — its 6b band and its 187-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elk Ridge'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 Elk Ridge’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Elk Ridge's own scale — its own ~187-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,871 acres it covers and 309 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elk Ridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Elk Ridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 25 and the ~187-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 309 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Elk Ridge, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Elk Ridge's boundary and the 1,871 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~187-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Elk Ridge's own centroid, the Wasatch and Uinta MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Elk Ridge's 1,871 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Utah County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Utah 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 Utah County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Elk Ridge's 1,871 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Elk Ridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,871 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Elk Ridge-wide figureread your own land →
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