Bedford, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect okra, cranberry, cilantro, and zucchini to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bedford, 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 Bedford 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 Bedford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bedford — the short answer
Bedford, Wyoming: USDA zone 4b, about 110 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~110
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 4b is Bedford's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bedford's 110-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bedford
Each reading below is measured for Bedford itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBedford runs about 110 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBedford sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Bedford is in
Bedford sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Bedford's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Lincoln County is mostly Wyoming Basin. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Bedford
Every plant below cleared Bedford's own zone 4b and its 110-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bedford?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Bedford
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bedford. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Lampe-Fidler Ready MixUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- 34-118-31acd01Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- Sessions Oil Co., Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Star Valley Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- 33-119-12cba01Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- Maverik Country Store #276Underground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Maverik Country Store # 70Underground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- 33-119-12cba02Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- Skinner Service and Auto BodyUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- UPS - THAYNEBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- STAR VALLEY CHEESEToxics Release Inventory · 4.2 mi
- Swiss Mountain MotelUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bedford'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 Bedford.
Total Sites
67
within ~10 miles of Bedford
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bedford
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bedford
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bedford, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Bedford. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Bedford
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 Bedford average
Your land is one point inside Bedford
Everything above resolves to Bedford as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Bedford Average
Bedford Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Bedford
- ●One soil character for all of Bedford
- ●Frost dates read at Bedford's scale: May 26 to Sep 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bedford's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bedford
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bedford, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bedford averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bedford — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bedford average
How we know this about Bedford
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 Bedford’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 Bedford
When does frost risk typically end in Bedford?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bedford typically lands around May 26, 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 Jun 16.
When is the first frost in Bedford?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bedford typically arrives around Sep 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Aug 30, so the watching starts about Aug 14 — about 110 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bedford?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bedford sees about 110 frost-free days — roughly May 26 through Sep 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 16 to Aug 30, about 75 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bedford?
The federal record around Bedford is a meaningful one — 67 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (40), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 gardeners stretch the season in Bedford?
With about 110 frost-free days between hard freezes, Bedford rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 138 to 166 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 26 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Bedford's scale — its 4b band and its 110-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bedford'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 Bedford’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bedford's own scale — its own ~110-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,178 acres it covers and 67 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bedford's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bedford's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 26 and Sep 13 and the ~110-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 67 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bedford, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bedford's boundary and the 3,178 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~110-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bedford sits in the Middle Rockies — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bedford's 3,178 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln County
- The growing challenges every Wyoming grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Wyoming
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bedford's 3,178 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bedford you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,178 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Bedford-wide figureread your own land →
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