Curlew, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Curlew, 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 Curlew 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 Curlew — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Curlew — the short answer
Curlew, Washington: USDA zone 6a, about 178 days between hard freezes, across 483 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~178
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 483 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 6a is Curlew's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Curlew's 178-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Curlew
Each reading below is measured for Curlew itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCurlew runs about 178 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
MeasuredCurlew sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Curlew is in
Curlew sits in the Northern Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Curlew's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ferry County.
What Grows in Curlew
Every plant below cleared Curlew's own zone 6a and its 178-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Curlew?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — 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 Curlew
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Curlew. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COUGAR CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- FERRY COUNTY ROAD FUNDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CURLEW STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CURLEW SALES & SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Boston & New YorkMining · 1.4 mi
- Boston and New YorkMining · 1.5 mi
- K2 MINEBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- K2 MINEToxics Release Inventory · 3.0 mi
- PanamaMining · 3.0 mi
- LancasterMining · 3.3 mi
- ComstockMining · 3.9 mi
- MALO STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Curlew'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 Curlew.
Total Sites
54
within ~10 miles of Curlew
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Curlew
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Curlew
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Curlew, Mining runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Curlew. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Curlew
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 Curlew average
Your land is one point inside Curlew
Everything above resolves to Curlew as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 483 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 Curlew Average
Curlew Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Curlew
- ●One soil character for all of Curlew
- ●Frost dates read at Curlew's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Curlew's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Curlew
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Curlew, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Curlew averages can't show:
We read public map data around Curlew — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Curlew average
How we know this about Curlew
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 Curlew’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 Curlew
When does frost risk typically end in Curlew?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Curlew typically lands around Apr 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 May 11.
When is the first frost in Curlew?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Curlew typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 178 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Curlew?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Curlew sees about 178 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 1, about 143 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Curlew?
The federal record around Curlew is a meaningful one — 54 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (38), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Curlew?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Curlew's scale — its 6a band and its 178-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Curlew'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 Curlew’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Curlew's own scale — its own ~178-day season between 28°F freezes, the 483 acres it covers and 54 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Curlew's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Curlew's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 15 and the ~178-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 54 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Curlew, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Curlew's boundary and the 483 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~178-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Curlew's own centroid, the Northern RockiesUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Curlew's 483 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ferry County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ferry County
- The growing challenges every Washington grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Washington
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Ferry County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Curlew's 483 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Curlew you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 483 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Curlew-wide figureread your own land →