Pullman, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Pullman, 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 Pullman 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 Pullman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pullman — the short answer
Pullman, Washington: USDA zone 6b, about 187 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~187
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Pullman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pullman's 187-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pullman
Each reading below is measured for Pullman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPullman runs about 187 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
MeasuredPullman 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 Pullman is in
Pullman sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Pullman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Whitman County.
What Grows in Pullman
Every plant below cleared Pullman's own zone 6b and its 187-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pullman?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Pullman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pullman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PULLMAN CENTRAL OFFICE (4850-B01)Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- MURROWUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- 14N/45E-05F02Nitrate · 1300 ft
- WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITYCAFO · 1900 ft
- WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITYBrownfields · 1900 ft
- MOBIL #62160Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- WASHINGTON BUILDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- 15N/45E-32N02Nitrate · 2300 ft
- FOUR STAR SUPPLY, INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- CAMPUS CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- UPS PULLMANBrownfields · 2500 ft
- DUMAS CORPORATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pullman'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 Pullman.
Total Sites
275
within ~10 miles of Pullman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pullman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pullman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pullman, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 88 sites within ~10 miles of Pullman. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Pullman
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 Pullman average
Your land is one point inside Pullman
Everything above resolves to Pullman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Pullman Average
Pullman Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Pullman
- ●One soil character for all of Pullman
- ●Frost dates read at Pullman's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pullman's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pullman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pullman, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pullman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pullman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pullman average
How we know this about Pullman
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 Pullman’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 Pullman
When does frost risk typically end in Pullman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pullman typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Pullman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pullman typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 187 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pullman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pullman sees about 187 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 5, about 152 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pullman?
The federal record around Pullman is a meaningful one — 275 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (138), 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 Pullman?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pullman's scale — its 6b band and its 187-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pullman'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 Pullman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Pullman's own scale — its own ~187-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,119 acres it covers and 275 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pullman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pullman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 19 and the ~187-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 275 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pullman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pullman's boundary and the 7,119 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~187-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pullman's own centroid, the Columbia PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pullman's 7,119 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Whitman County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Whitman 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 Whitman County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pullman's 7,119 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pullman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,119 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 Pullman-wide figureread your own land →
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