Mansfield, 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.
On paper, cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Mansfield, 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 Mansfield 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 Mansfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mansfield — the short answer
Mansfield, Washington: USDA zone 6b, about 198 days between hard freezes, across 207 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~198
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 207 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 Mansfield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mansfield's 198-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mansfield
Each reading below is measured for Mansfield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMansfield runs about 198 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
MeasuredMansfield 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 Mansfield is in
Mansfield sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Mansfield's own centroid rather than borrowed from Douglas County.
What Grows in Mansfield
Every plant below cleared Mansfield's own zone 6b and its 198-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mansfield?
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 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Mansfield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mansfield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DOUGLAS CNTY TRANSPORTATION & LAND SVCSBrownfields · 450 ft
- THEODORE PINGERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- DELBERT A DEPNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- MANSFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT 207Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- WARD A GLESSNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- BRIDGEPORT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.6 mi
- DOUGLAS CO PUBLIC WORKS MANSFIELD SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.6 mi
Measured from Mansfield'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 Mansfield.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mansfield
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Mansfield
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 Mansfield average
Your land is one point inside Mansfield
Everything above resolves to Mansfield as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 207 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 Mansfield Average
Mansfield Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Mansfield
- ●One soil character for all of Mansfield
- ●Frost dates read at Mansfield's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mansfield's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mansfield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mansfield, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mansfield averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mansfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mansfield average
How we know this about Mansfield
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 Mansfield’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 Mansfield
When does frost risk typically end in Mansfield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mansfield typically lands around Apr 10, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Mansfield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mansfield typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 198 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mansfield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mansfield sees about 198 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 11, about 163 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mansfield?
The federal record around Mansfield is light — 7 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (6), the nearest Brownfields 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 Mansfield?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mansfield's scale — its 6b band and its 198-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mansfield'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 Mansfield’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mansfield's own scale — its own ~198-day season between 28°F freezes, the 207 acres it covers and 7 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mansfield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mansfield's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 25 and the ~198-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 7 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mansfield, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mansfield's boundary and the 207 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~198-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mansfield's own centroid, the Columbia PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mansfield's 207 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Douglas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Douglas 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 Douglas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mansfield's 207 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mansfield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 207 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Mansfield-wide figureread your own land →