Becker, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Becker, 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 Becker 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 Becker — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Becker — the short answer
Becker, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 179 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~179
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 7K 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 4b is Becker's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Becker's 179-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Becker
Each reading below is measured for Becker itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBecker runs about 179 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
MeasuredBecker sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Becker is in
Becker sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Becker's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sherburne County.
What Grows in Becker
Every plant below cleared Becker's own zone 4b and its 179-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Becker?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Becker
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Becker. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 034N29W36DCC 01 U OF M BECKER FARMNitrate · 1000 ft
- LIBERTY PAPER INCBrownfields · 2300 ft
- LIBERTY PAPER INCToxics Release Inventory · 2300 ft
- AMERICAN HIGHWAYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- SUPERIOR TRANSIT SALES LLCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- TRUCK TECHNOLOGYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- NORTHERN METAL RECYCLINGBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- NORTHERN METAL RECYCLINGSuperfund · 0.6 mi
- U OF M - SAND PLAIN RESEARCHBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- SHERBURNE COUNTY GENERATING PLANTBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- SHERBURNE COUNTY GENERATING PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- IRONWORKS A DIV OF PCI ROADSBrownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Becker'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 Becker.
Total Sites
535
within ~10 miles of Becker
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Becker
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Becker
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Becker, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 252 sites within ~10 miles of Becker. 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 Becker
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 Becker average
Your land is one point inside Becker
Everything above resolves to Becker as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Becker Average
Becker Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Becker
- ●One soil character for all of Becker
- ●Frost dates read at Becker's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Becker's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Becker
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Becker, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Becker averages can't show:
We read public map data around Becker — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Becker average
How we know this about Becker
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 Becker’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 Becker
When does frost risk typically end in Becker?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Becker typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Becker?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Becker typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 179 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Becker?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Becker sees about 179 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 2, about 144 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Becker?
The federal record around Becker is a meaningful one — 535 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (252), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Becker?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Becker's scale — its 4b band and its 179-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Becker'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 Becker’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Becker's own scale — its own ~179-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,468 acres it covers and 535 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Becker's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Becker's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 16 and the ~179-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 535 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Becker, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Becker's boundary and the 7,468 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~179-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Becker's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Becker's 7,468 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sherburne County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sherburne 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 Sherburne County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Becker's 7,468 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Becker you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,468 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Becker-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaBecker sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides