Thompson Springs, Utah, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, 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 Thompson Springs, 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 Thompson Springs 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 Thompson Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Thompson Springs — the short answer
Thompson Springs, Utah: USDA zone 7a, about 215 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~215
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 7a is Thompson Springs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Thompson Springs's 215-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Thompson Springs
Each reading below is measured for Thompson Springs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredThompson Springs runs about 215 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredThompson Springs sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Thompson Springs is in
Thompson Springs sits in the Colorado Plateaus — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Thompson Springs's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grand County.
What Grows in Thompson Springs
Every plant below cleared Thompson Springs's own zone 7a and its 215-day season. Each card opens that plant's Utah profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Thompson Springs?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Thompson Springs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Thompson Springs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UDOT STA # 4454Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- UDOT MAINT. YARD #4454 UHP PUMPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ABANDONED GRUVERS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- DENVER & RIO GRANDE WESTERN RRUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 7-ELEVEN #53615Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- (D-21-20)17bcc- 1Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- CRESCENT JUNCTION C-STORE AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- Salt Valley ClaimsMining · 8.0 mi
- CISCO MONITORING WELL #2Nitrate · 9.7 mi
- CISCO MONITORING WELL #1Nitrate · 9.7 mi
- Cobalt # 1Mining · 9.9 mi
Measured from Thompson Springs'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 Thompson Springs.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Thompson Springs
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Thompson Springs
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
Check your specific parcel in Thompson Springs
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 Thompson Springs average
Your land is one point inside Thompson Springs
Everything above resolves to Thompson Springs 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 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 Thompson Springs Average
Thompson Springs Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Thompson Springs
- ●One soil character for all of Thompson Springs
- ●Frost dates read at Thompson Springs's scale: Apr 4 to Nov 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Thompson Springs's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Thompson Springs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Thompson Springs, Utah — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Thompson Springs averages can't show:
We read public map data around Thompson Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Thompson Springs average
How we know this about Thompson Springs
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 Thompson Springs’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 Thompson Springs
When does frost risk typically end in Thompson Springs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Thompson Springs typically lands around Apr 4, 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 Apr 25.
When is the first frost in Thompson Springs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Thompson Springs typically arrives around Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 22, so the watching starts about Oct 6 — about 215 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Thompson Springs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Thompson Springs sees about 215 frost-free days — roughly Apr 4 through Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 25 to Oct 22, about 180 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Thompson Springs?
The federal record around Thompson Springs is light — 15 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (6), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Thompson Springs?
From about Oct 6 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 Nov 5 (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 Nov 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Thompson Springs's scale — its 7a band and its 215-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Thompson Springs'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 Thompson Springs’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Thompson Springs's own scale — its own ~215-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,039 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Thompson Springs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Thompson Springs's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 4 and Nov 5 and the ~215-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Thompson Springs, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Thompson Springs's boundary and the 2,039 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~215-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Thompson Springs's own centroid, the Colorado PlateausUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Thompson Springs's 2,039 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grand County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grand 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 Grand County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Thompson Springs's 2,039 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Thompson Springs you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,039 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Thompson Springs-wide figureread your own land →
More in Utah
Wider growing context
What grows across UtahThompson Springs sits outside our named growing regions, so Utah as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides