Akeley, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Akeley, 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 Akeley 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 Akeley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Akeley — the short answer
Akeley, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 163 days between hard freezes, across 940 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~163
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 940 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 4a is Akeley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Akeley's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Akeley
Each reading below is measured for Akeley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAkeley runs about 163 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
MeasuredAkeley sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Akeley is in
Akeley sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Akeley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hubbard County.
What Grows in Akeley
Every plant below cleared Akeley's own zone 4a and its 163-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Akeley?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 Akeley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Akeley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 141N32W28ACC 01 AkeleyNitrate · 150 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 16870Brownfields · 1200 ft
- WARNER MFG COToxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- Paul Bunyan StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Hamand Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Luetgers Union JunctionUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Badoura State Tree NurseryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Lakes Area Coop Akeley CenexUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- East Hubbard County Fire Protection DistUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Warner Manufacturing CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- WLN070 Williams Lk. nest 70ft, SHAEPNitrate · 3.9 mi
- WLN130 Williams Lk. nest 130ft, SHAEPNitrate · 3.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Akeley'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 Akeley.
Total Sites
112
within ~10 miles of Akeley
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Akeley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Akeley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Akeley, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 44 sites within ~10 miles of Akeley. 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 Akeley
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 Akeley average
Your land is one point inside Akeley
Everything above resolves to Akeley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 940 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 Akeley Average
Akeley Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Akeley
- ●One soil character for all of Akeley
- ●Frost dates read at Akeley's scale: May 2 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Akeley's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Akeley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Akeley, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Akeley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Akeley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Akeley average
How we know this about Akeley
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 Akeley’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 Akeley
When does frost risk typically end in Akeley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Akeley typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Akeley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Akeley typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 163 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Akeley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Akeley sees about 163 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 28, about 128 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Akeley?
The federal record around Akeley shows 112 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (44), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Akeley?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Akeley's scale — its 4a band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Akeley'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 Akeley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Akeley's own scale — its own ~163-day season between 28°F freezes, the 940 acres it covers and 112 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Akeley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Akeley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 12 and the ~163-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 112 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Akeley, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Akeley's boundary and the 940 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~163-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Akeley's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Akeley's 940 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hubbard County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hubbard County
- The growing challenges every Minnesota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Minnesota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Hubbard County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Akeley's 940 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Akeley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 940 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Akeley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaAkeley sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides