Ranchester, 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.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Ranchester, 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 Ranchester 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 Ranchester — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Ranchester — the short answer
Ranchester, Wyoming: USDA zone 4b, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 454 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 454 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 Ranchester's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ranchester's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ranchester
Each reading below is measured for Ranchester itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRanchester runs about 149 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
MeasuredRanchester 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 Ranchester is in
Ranchester sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ranchester's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sheridan County.
What Grows in Ranchester
Every plant below cleared Ranchester's own zone 4b and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wyoming profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ranchester?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — 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 Ranchester
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ranchester. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Buckhorn Grocery and GasUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Carl MortensonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Tongue River Valley Community CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Big Country OilUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Parke Fox PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Tongue River Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 57-085-18cca01Nitrate · 1700 ft
- Tongue River Elementary School PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- SHERIDAN COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 1 (BUS BARN) NEW LOCATIONBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Wicks SinclairUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 57-085-30bbd01Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 57-086-27bdc01Nitrate · 3.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ranchester'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 Ranchester.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ranchester
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ranchester
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ranchester, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 20 sites within ~10 miles of Ranchester. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Ranchester
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 Ranchester average
Your land is one point inside Ranchester
Everything above resolves to Ranchester as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 454 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 Ranchester Average
Ranchester Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Ranchester
- ●One soil character for all of Ranchester
- ●Frost dates read at Ranchester's scale: May 8 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ranchester's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ranchester
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ranchester, Wyoming — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ranchester averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ranchester — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ranchester average
How we know this about Ranchester
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 Ranchester’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 Ranchester
When does frost risk typically end in Ranchester?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ranchester typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Ranchester?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ranchester typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ranchester?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ranchester sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 20, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ranchester?
The federal record around Ranchester is light — 40 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (20), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Ranchester?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Ranchester 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 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 8 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Ranchester's scale — its 4b band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ranchester'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 Ranchester’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ranchester's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 454 acres it covers and 40 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ranchester's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ranchester's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 4 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 40 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ranchester, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ranchester's boundary and the 454 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ranchester's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ranchester's 454 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sheridan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sheridan 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 Sheridan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ranchester's 454 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ranchester you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 454 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 Ranchester-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wyoming
Wider growing context
What grows across WyomingRanchester sits outside our named growing regions, so Wyoming as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides