Moorhead, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Moorhead, 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 Moorhead 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 Moorhead — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Moorhead — the short answer
Moorhead, Iowa: USDA zone 5b, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 150 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~190
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 150 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 Moorhead's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Moorhead's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Moorhead
Each reading below is measured for Moorhead itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMoorhead runs about 190 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
MeasuredMoorhead 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 Moorhead is in
Moorhead sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Moorhead's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monona County.
What Grows in Moorhead
Every plant below cleared Moorhead's own zone 5b and its 190-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Moorhead?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — 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 Moorhead
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Moorhead. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EAST MONONA COMMUNITY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- 082N43W09DDDC 40904 1957Moorhead 2Nitrate · 650 ft
- 082N43W09DDDC 40903 1932Moorhead 1Nitrate · 650 ft
- MOORHEAD MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- MOORHEAD COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- GDP FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- MONONA COUNTY ENGINEERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- JOHN MOORHEADUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- BLAINE OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- 083N42W19CACD 42537 1974Soldier 4Nitrate · 5.5 mi
- IDOT MAINT GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- SOLDIER SPEEDEE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Moorhead'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 Moorhead.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Moorhead
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Moorhead, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 22 sites within ~10 miles of Moorhead. 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 Moorhead
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 Moorhead average
Your land is one point inside Moorhead
Everything above resolves to Moorhead as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 150 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 Moorhead Average
Moorhead Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Moorhead
- ●One soil character for all of Moorhead
- ●Frost dates read at Moorhead's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Moorhead's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Moorhead
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Moorhead, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Moorhead averages can't show:
We read public map data around Moorhead — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Moorhead average
How we know this about Moorhead
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 Moorhead’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 Moorhead
When does frost risk typically end in Moorhead?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Moorhead typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Moorhead?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Moorhead typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 190 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Moorhead?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Moorhead sees about 190 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 6, about 155 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Moorhead?
The federal record around Moorhead is light — 41 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (22), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 I protect my plants from frost in Moorhead?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Moorhead's scale — its 5b band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Moorhead'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 Moorhead’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Moorhead's own scale — its own ~190-day season between 28°F freezes, the 150 acres it covers and 41 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Moorhead's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Moorhead's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 20 and the ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 41 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Moorhead, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Moorhead's boundary and the 150 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Moorhead'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 Moorhead's 150 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monona County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Monona 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 Monona County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Moorhead's 150 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Moorhead you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 150 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 Moorhead-wide figureread your own land →
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