Hatch, Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hatch, 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 Hatch 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 Hatch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hatch — the short answer
Hatch, Utah: USDA zone 5b, about 136 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~136
- 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 5b is Hatch's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hatch's 136-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hatch
Each reading below is measured for Hatch itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHatch runs about 136 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
MeasuredHatch sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Hatch is in
Hatch sits in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Hatch's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Garfield County is mostly Colorado Plateaus. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Hatch
Every plant below cleared Hatch's own zone 5b and its 136-day season. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hatch?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 20 (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. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Hatch
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hatch. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BARNEY'S GENERAL STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- The Gettin' PlaceUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- MT. HARVEST RESTRAUNT & MOTELUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- GARKANE POWER ASSOCIATESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- GALAXYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- (C-36- 5)29dcd- 1Nitrate · 1800 ft
- GARKANE POWER ASSOCIATION, INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- (C-37- 5)19cad- 1Nitrate · 5.3 mi
- (C-35- 5)35dad- 1Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- (C-35- 5)25bbc- 3Nitrate · 7.2 mi
- U.S.WEST 671665Underground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- FAA-BRYCE CANYON (BCE VORTAC)Underground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
2 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hatch'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 Hatch.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hatch
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Hatch
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 Hatch average
Your land is one point inside Hatch
Everything above resolves to Hatch 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 Hatch Average
Hatch Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Hatch
- ●One soil character for all of Hatch
- ●Frost dates read at Hatch's scale: May 20 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hatch's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hatch
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hatch, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hatch averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hatch — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hatch average
How we know this about Hatch
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 Hatch’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 Hatch
When does frost risk typically end in Hatch?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hatch typically lands around May 20, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Hatch?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hatch typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 136 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hatch?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hatch sees about 136 frost-free days — roughly May 20 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 10 to Sep 19, about 101 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hatch?
The federal record around Hatch is light — 18 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Hatch?
With about 136 frost-free days between hard freezes, Hatch 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 164 to 192 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 20 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Hatch's scale — its 5b band and its 136-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hatch'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 Hatch’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hatch's own scale — its own ~136-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,178 acres it covers and 18 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hatch's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hatch's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 20 and Oct 3 and the ~136-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 18 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hatch, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hatch's boundary and the 1,178 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~136-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Hatch sits in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hatch's 1,178 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Garfield County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Garfield 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 Garfield County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hatch's 1,178 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hatch you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,178 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Hatch-wide figureread your own land →
More in Utah
Wider growing context
What grows across UtahHatch sits outside our named growing regions, so Utah as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides