Methow, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Methow, 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 Methow 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 Methow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Methow — the short answer
Methow, Washington: USDA zone 6b, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 432 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~190
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 432 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 Methow's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Methow's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Methow
Each reading below is measured for Methow itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMethow runs about 190 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
MeasuredMethow 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 Methow is in
Methow sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Methow's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Okanogan County is mostly North Cascades. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Methow
Every plant below cleared Methow's own zone 6b and its 190-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Methow?
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 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Methow
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Methow. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 30N/23E-06K01Nitrate · 1300 ft
- Emerald ProspectMining · 1.3 mi
- EmeraldMining · 1.3 mi
- MilwaukeeMining · 1.4 mi
- Standard and LouisaMining · 1.5 mi
- MethowMining · 1.6 mi
- Methow MineMining · 1.8 mi
- Squaw Creek DistrictMining · 1.8 mi
- Washington MineMining · 2.0 mi
- HighlandMining · 2.0 mi
- Roosevelt MineMining · 2.1 mi
- WashingtonMining · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Methow'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 Methow.
Total Sites
75
within ~10 miles of Methow
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Methow
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Methow
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Methow, Mining runs higher than the national average — 62 sites within ~10 miles of Methow. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Methow
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 Methow average
Your land is one point inside Methow
Everything above resolves to Methow as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 432 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 Methow Average
Methow Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Methow
- ●One soil character for all of Methow
- ●Frost dates read at Methow's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Methow's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Methow
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Methow, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Methow averages can't show:
We read public map data around Methow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Methow average
How we know this about Methow
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 Methow’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 Methow
When does frost risk typically end in Methow?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Methow typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Methow?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Methow typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 190 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Methow?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Methow sees about 190 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 6, about 155 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Methow?
The federal record around Methow is a meaningful one — 75 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (62), the nearest Nitrate 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 Methow?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Methow's scale — its 6b band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Methow'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 Methow’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Methow's own scale — its own ~190-day season between 28°F freezes, the 432 acres it covers and 75 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Methow's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Methow's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 20 and the ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 75 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Methow, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Methow's boundary and the 432 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Methow sits in the Columbia Plateau — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Methow's 432 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Okanogan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Okanogan 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 Okanogan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Methow's 432 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Methow you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 432 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Methow-wide figureread your own land →
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