Wilson Creek, Washington, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wilson Creek, 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 Wilson Creek 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 Wilson Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wilson Creek — the short answer
Wilson Creek, Washington: USDA zone 6b, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 618 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 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 618 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 Wilson Creek's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wilson Creek's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wilson Creek
Each reading below is measured for Wilson Creek itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWilson Creek runs about 196 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
MeasuredWilson Creek 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 Wilson Creek is in
Wilson Creek sits in the Columbia Plateau — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Wilson Creek's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grant County.
What Grows in Wilson Creek
Every plant below cleared Wilson Creek's own zone 6b and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's Washington profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wilson Creek?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 23 — 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 Wilson Creek
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wilson Creek. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WILSON CREEK WA LINE SEG 37 PRINT 427Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- COULEE CITY FIRE HALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- GRANT COUNTY-WILSON CREEK SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- ALLAN RAMMUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- EDWIN JASMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- HARVEY BISCHOFFUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- KUCH MELVINUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- MARLIN HUTTERIAN BAKERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- DEIFE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- GLEN A KNOPPUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- HERB SPIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- 22N/30E-13H01Nitrate · 6.5 mi
3 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wilson Creek'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 Wilson Creek.
Total Sites
18
within ~10 miles of Wilson Creek
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
6 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wilson Creek
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Wilson Creek
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 Wilson Creek average
Your land is one point inside Wilson Creek
Everything above resolves to Wilson Creek as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 618 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 Wilson Creek Average
Wilson Creek Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Wilson Creek
- ●One soil character for all of Wilson Creek
- ●Frost dates read at Wilson Creek's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wilson Creek's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wilson Creek
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wilson Creek, Washington — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wilson Creek averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wilson Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wilson Creek average
How we know this about Wilson Creek
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 Wilson Creek’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 Wilson Creek
When does frost risk typically end in Wilson Creek?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wilson Creek 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 Wilson Creek?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wilson Creek typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wilson Creek?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wilson Creek sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 9, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wilson Creek?
The federal record around Wilson Creek is light — 18 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (12), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Wilson Creek?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wilson Creek's scale — its 6b band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wilson Creek'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 Wilson Creek’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wilson Creek's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 618 acres it covers and 18 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wilson Creek's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wilson Creek's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 23 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 18 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wilson Creek, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wilson Creek's boundary and the 618 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wilson Creek's own centroid, the Columbia PlateauUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wilson Creek's 618 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grant County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grant 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 Grant County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wilson Creek's 618 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wilson Creek you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 618 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 Wilson Creek-wide figureread your own land →
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