Gardening Zones

A Zone 5 garden gets roughly 150 to 170 days between the last spring frost and the first hard freeze of fall, and winter lows sit between -20 and -10F. That is a middle-of-the-road season by American standards: long enough...

USDA Hardiness Zone 6 means average winter lows of -10 to 0F, which gives gardeners a growing season of roughly 180 to 200 days. The last spring frost usually clears by mid-April and the first fall frost holds off until...

USDA Zone 7 is a long four-season growing zone, with roughly 195 to 230 days between frosts and winter lows around 0 to 10F. Summer here is warm enough for okra and melons, but the back half of the year...

Zones 1 and 2 cover the coldest ground anyone gardens on: interior and northern Alaska, subarctic Canada, and a few high mountain pockets where winter lows sit between about -60F and -40F and the frost-free stretch can be as short...