Dakota City, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Dakota City, 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 Dakota City 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 Dakota City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dakota City — the short answer
Dakota City, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 467 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 467 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 Dakota City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dakota City's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dakota City
Each reading below is measured for Dakota City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDakota City runs about 188 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
MeasuredDakota City 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 Dakota City is in
Dakota City sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Dakota City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Humboldt County.
What Grows in Dakota City
Every plant below cleared Dakota City's own zone 5a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dakota City?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Dakota City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dakota City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HUMBOLDT COUNTY PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- N/AUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CASEY''S GENERAL STORE 37Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- 091N28W06CACD 03222 1948Dakota City 2Nitrate · 1500 ft
- 091N28W06CCAA 1918Dakota City 1Nitrate · 1500 ft
- ODENBRETT SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- CHANTLAND MHSBrownfields · 1600 ft
- 091N28W06CCAA 1978Dakota City 3Nitrate · 2000 ft
- HUMBOLDT MOTOR SALES INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- BUTCHS AUTO SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- HUMBOLDT COUNTY ENGR OFC & MAINT GARAGEBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- HUMBOLDT MOTOR SALES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dakota City'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 Dakota City.
Total Sites
148
within ~10 miles of Dakota City
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dakota City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dakota City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dakota City, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 60 sites within ~10 miles of Dakota City. 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 Dakota City
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 Dakota City average
Your land is one point inside Dakota City
Everything above resolves to Dakota City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 467 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 city 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 Dakota City Average
Dakota City Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Dakota City
- ●One soil character for all of Dakota City
- ●Frost dates read at Dakota City's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dakota City's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dakota City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dakota City, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dakota City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dakota City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dakota City average
How we know this about Dakota City
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Dakota City’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Dakota City
When does frost risk typically end in Dakota City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dakota City typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Dakota City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dakota City typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dakota City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dakota City sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 7, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dakota City?
The federal record around Dakota City shows 148 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (60), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Dakota City?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dakota City's scale — its 5a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dakota City'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 Dakota City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Dakota City's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 467 acres it covers and 148 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dakota City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dakota City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 21 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 148 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dakota City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dakota City's boundary and the 467 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dakota City's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dakota City's 467 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Humboldt County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Humboldt County
- The growing challenges every Iowa grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Iowa
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Humboldt County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dakota City's 467 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dakota City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 467 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 Dakota City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaDakota City sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.