Holden, Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Holden, 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 Holden 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 Holden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Holden — the short answer
Holden, Utah: USDA zone 6b, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 375 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 375 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 Holden's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Holden's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Holden
Each reading below is measured for Holden itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHolden runs about 180 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
MeasuredHolden 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 Holden is in
Holden sits in the Central Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Holden's own centroid rather than borrowed from Millard County.
What Grows in Holden
Every plant below cleared Holden's own zone 6b and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Holden?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Holden
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Holden. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WEST MILLARD CO-OP HOLDENUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Y SERVICE / SID'S GAS AND STUFFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- UNITED PARCEL SERVICE - DELTA (HOLDEN)Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- CONOCO STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- (C-19- 4)31ada- 1Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- (C-19- 4)29bcd- 1Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- (C-19- 4)31dbb- 1Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- DOUBLE DOLLAR LIVESTOCKCAFO · 6.7 mi
- (C-20- 5) 9daa- 1Nitrate · 7.5 mi
- MILLERS CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
- CRAIG'SUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.9 mi
- (C-20- 5)27cbb- 1Nitrate · 7.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Holden'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 Holden.
Total Sites
53
within ~10 miles of Holden
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Holden
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Holden
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Holden, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 22 sites within ~10 miles of Holden. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Holden
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 Holden average
Your land is one point inside Holden
Everything above resolves to Holden as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 375 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 Holden Average
Holden Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Holden
- ●One soil character for all of Holden
- ●Frost dates read at Holden's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Holden's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Holden
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Holden, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Holden averages can't show:
We read public map data around Holden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Holden average
How we know this about Holden
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 Holden’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 Holden
When does frost risk typically end in Holden?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Holden typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Holden?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Holden typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Holden?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Holden sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 5, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Holden?
The federal record around Holden shows 53 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (28), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Holden?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Holden's scale — its 6b band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Holden'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 Holden’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Holden's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 375 acres it covers and 53 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Holden's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Holden's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 19 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 53 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Holden, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Holden's boundary and the 375 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Holden's own centroid, the Central Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Holden's 375 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Millard County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Millard 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 Millard County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Holden's 375 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Holden you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 375 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Holden-wide figureread your own land →
More in Utah
Wider growing context
What grows across UtahHolden sits outside our named growing regions, so Utah as a whole is its closest context here.