Latah, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Latah, 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 Latah 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 Latah — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Latah — the short answer
Latah, Washington: USDA zone 6b, about 178 days between hard freezes, across 205 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- 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
- 205 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 Latah's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Latah's 178-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Latah
Each reading below is measured for Latah itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLatah 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
MeasuredLatah 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 Latah is in
Latah sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Latah's own centroid rather than borrowed from Spokane County.
What Grows in Latah
Every plant below cleared Latah's own zone 6b and its 178-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Latah?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 Latah
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Latah. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SCHOOL BLDG SITEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- PRUETT PETROLEUM COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- GARDNER AND SMITH INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- TEKOA WA0290/TEKOWAQ4290/PCSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- 20N/44E-12M01 LE16Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- HEATON FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- CHARLES MCHARGUEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- MCGREGOR CO TEKOAUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- TEKOA DEPOT AND SECTION TOOL HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- HEART SEED COUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- BUSCH DISTRIBUTORS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- PRAIRIE GRAIN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Latah'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 Latah.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Latah
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Latah, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Latah — Nitrate (18 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (37 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Latah
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 Latah average
Your land is one point inside Latah
Everything above resolves to Latah as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 205 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 Latah Average
Latah Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Latah
- ●One soil character for all of Latah
- ●Frost dates read at Latah's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Latah's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Latah
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Latah, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Latah averages can't show:
We read public map data around Latah — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Latah average
How we know this about Latah
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 Latah’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 Latah
When does frost risk typically end in Latah?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Latah 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 Latah?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Latah 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 Latah?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Latah 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 Latah?
The federal record around Latah shows 57 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Latah?
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 Latah's scale — its 6b band and its 178-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Latah'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 Latah’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Latah's own scale — its own ~178-day season between 28°F freezes, the 205 acres it covers and 57 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Latah's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Latah's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 15 and the ~178-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 57 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Latah, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Latah's boundary and the 205 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~178-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Latah's own centroid, the Columbia PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Latah's 205 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Spokane County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Spokane 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 Spokane County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Latah's 205 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Latah you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 205 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Latah-wide figureread your own land →