De Soto, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in De Soto, 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 De Soto 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 De Soto — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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De Soto — the short answer
De Soto, Iowa: USDA zone 5b, about 194 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~194
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 5b is De Soto's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against De Soto's 194-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in De Soto
Each reading below is measured for De Soto itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDe Soto runs about 194 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
MeasuredDe Soto sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 De Soto is in
De Soto sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at De Soto's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dallas County.
What Grows in De Soto
Every plant below cleared De Soto's own zone 5b and its 194-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in De Soto?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near De Soto
Closest first, within ~10 miles of De Soto. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KUM & GO 95Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- DE SOTO JUNCTION TRUCK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- DESOTO ELEMENTARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- CASEY''S GENERAL STORE 2899Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- CASEY''S GENERAL STORE #96Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Not KnownUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- KUM & GO #95Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- HIWAY SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- PASHEK & GUESS CONSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- DE SOTO GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- 078N27W18DBCB 1977De Soto 3Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- IOWA DEPT OF TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from De Soto'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 De Soto.
Total Sites
111
within ~10 miles of De Soto
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of De Soto
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of De Soto
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around De Soto, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 71 sites within ~10 miles of De Soto. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in De Soto
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 De Soto average
Your land is one point inside De Soto
Everything above resolves to De Soto as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 De Soto Average
De Soto Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across De Soto
- ●One soil character for all of De Soto
- ●Frost dates read at De Soto's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not De Soto's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in De Soto
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in De Soto, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that De Soto averages can't show:
We read public map data around De Soto — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the De Soto average
How we know this about De Soto
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 De Soto’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 De Soto
When does frost risk typically end in De Soto?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in De Soto typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in De Soto?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in De Soto typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 194 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in De Soto?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, De Soto sees about 194 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 9, about 159 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in De Soto?
The federal record around De Soto shows 111 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (71), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 De Soto?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at De Soto's scale — its 5b band and its 194-day season. Your yard writes its own version of De Soto'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 De Soto’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at De Soto's own scale — its own ~194-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,206 acres it covers and 111 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- De Soto's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- De Soto's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 23 and the ~194-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 111 documented contamination sites on the federal record near De Soto, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- De Soto's boundary and the 1,206 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~194-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at De Soto'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 De Soto's 1,206 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dallas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dallas 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 Dallas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among De Soto's 1,206 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of De Soto you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,206 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 De Soto-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaDe Soto sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.