Harrington, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, blackberry, 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 Harrington, 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 Harrington 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 Harrington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Harrington — the short answer
Harrington, Washington: USDA zone 6b, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 250 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- 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
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 250 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 Harrington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Harrington's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Harrington
Each reading below is measured for Harrington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHarrington runs about 170 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
MeasuredHarrington 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 Harrington is in
Harrington sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Harrington's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Harrington
Every plant below cleared Harrington's own zone 6b and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Harrington?
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 Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (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 Harrington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Harrington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- US BANKUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- TANKE FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- HARRINGTON FUEL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- HARRINGTON ELEVATORUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- 23N/36E-15K02 PAS25Nitrate · 750 ft
- HARRINGTON SCHOOL DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- PAUL HANES HANES FLYING SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- HARRINGTON MAINTENANCE SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CROP PRODUCTION SERVICES HARRINGTONBrownfields · 1600 ft
- WESTERN FARM SERVICE INC HARRINGTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- HARRINGTON CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- GOOLEY FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Harrington'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 Harrington.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Harrington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Harrington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Harrington, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 34 sites within ~10 miles of Harrington. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Harrington
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 Harrington average
Your land is one point inside Harrington
Everything above resolves to Harrington as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 250 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 Harrington Average
Harrington Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Harrington
- ●One soil character for all of Harrington
- ●Frost dates read at Harrington's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Harrington's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Harrington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Harrington, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Harrington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Harrington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Harrington average
How we know this about Harrington
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 Harrington’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 Harrington
When does frost risk typically end in Harrington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Harrington typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Harrington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Harrington 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 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Harrington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Harrington sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Oct 1, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Harrington?
The federal record around Harrington is light — 47 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (34), 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 I protect my plants from frost in Harrington?
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 Harrington's scale — its 6b band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Harrington'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 Harrington’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Harrington's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 250 acres it covers and 47 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Harrington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Harrington's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 15 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 47 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Harrington, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Harrington's boundary and the 250 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Harrington's own centroid, the Columbia PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Harrington's 250 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Harrington's 250 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Harrington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 250 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 Harrington-wide figureread your own land →
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