Carter, Wyoming, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Carter, 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 Carter 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 Carter — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Carter — the short answer
Carter, Wyoming: USDA zone 5a, about 126 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~126
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 5a is Carter's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Carter's 126-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Carter
Each reading below is measured for Carter itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCarter runs about 126 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
MeasuredCarter sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Carter is in
Carter sits in the Wyoming Basin — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Carter's own centroid rather than borrowed from Uinta County.
What Grows in Carter
Every plant below cleared Carter's own zone 5a and its 126-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Carter?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Carter
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Carter. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FEEHAN TRUCKINGBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- 17-115-22 01Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- CarterUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- Fort Bridger RMLRUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- Fort Bridger VortacUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- Gas-N-Go #15Underground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- 16-115-33ccd01Nitrate · 8.6 mi
- Wagon Wheel Motel and CaféUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.7 mi
- Fort Bridger Cash Store, LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.7 mi
- 16-115-34acd01Nitrate · 8.8 mi
- 15-115-04 01Nitrate · 9.4 mi
- 16-114-16ccb01Nitrate · 9.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Carter'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 Carter.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Carter
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Carter
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •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 Carter
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 Carter average
Your land is one point inside Carter
Everything above resolves to Carter as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Carter Average
Carter Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Carter
- ●One soil character for all of Carter
- ●Frost dates read at Carter's scale: May 20 to Sep 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Carter's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Carter
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Carter, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Carter averages can't show:
We read public map data around Carter — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Carter average
How we know this about Carter
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 Carter’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 Carter
When does frost risk typically end in Carter?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Carter typically lands around May 20, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Carter?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Carter typically arrives around Sep 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 9, so the watching starts about Aug 24 — about 126 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Carter?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Carter sees about 126 frost-free days — roughly May 20 through Sep 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 10 to Sep 9, about 91 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Carter?
The federal record around Carter is light — 24 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (12), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.3 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 gardeners stretch the season in Carter?
With about 126 frost-free days between hard freezes, Carter 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 154 to 182 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 20 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Carter's scale — its 5a band and its 126-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Carter'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 Carter’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Carter's own scale — its own ~126-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,013 acres it covers and 24 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Carter's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Carter's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 20 and Sep 23 and the ~126-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 24 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Carter, the closest Brownfields record about 1.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Carter's boundary and the 2,013 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~126-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Carter's own centroid, the Wyoming BasinUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Carter's 2,013 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Uinta County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Uinta 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 Uinta County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Carter's 2,013 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Carter you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,013 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.3 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 Carter-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wyoming
Wider growing context
What grows across WyomingCarter sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides