Bemidji, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bemidji, 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 Bemidji 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 Bemidji — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bemidji — the short answer
Bemidji, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 11K 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 3b is Bemidji's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bemidji's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bemidji
Each reading below is measured for Bemidji itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBemidji runs about 157 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
MeasuredBemidji sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 Bemidji is in
Bemidji sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Bemidji's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Beltrami County is mostly Northern Minnesota Wetlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Bemidji
Every plant below cleared Bemidji's own zone 3b and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bemidji?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Bemidji
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bemidji. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Johnson Const CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Mn Dept Of Natural Resources - ParksUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MED SAVE PHARMACYBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Dick's Northside IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- DICK'S NORTHSIDE SERVICE, INC.Brownfields · 1500 ft
- WALGREEN'S STORE 9633Brownfields · 1500 ft
- Orton's Food MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CVS PHARMACY 10756Brownfields · 1600 ft
- LARRY'S MACHINE SHOPBrownfields · 1600 ft
- Fifteenth Street ConocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS - 2408Brownfields · 1700 ft
- GILLETTE CHILDRENS BEMIDJI CLINICBrownfields · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bemidji'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 Bemidji.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bemidji
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bemidji
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bemidji, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 157 sites within ~10 miles of Bemidji. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Bemidji
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 Bemidji average
Your land is one point inside Bemidji
Everything above resolves to Bemidji as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 11K 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 Bemidji Average
Bemidji Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Bemidji
- ●One soil character for all of Bemidji
- ●Frost dates read at Bemidji's scale: May 3 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bemidji's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bemidji
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bemidji, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bemidji averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bemidji — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bemidji average
How we know this about Bemidji
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 Bemidji’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 Bemidji
When does frost risk typically end in Bemidji?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bemidji typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Bemidji?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bemidji typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bemidji?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bemidji sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 23, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bemidji?
The federal record around Bemidji is a meaningful one — 324 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (157), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Bemidji?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bemidji's scale — its 3b band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bemidji'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 Bemidji’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bemidji's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 11,162 acres it covers and 324 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bemidji's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bemidji's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 7 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 324 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bemidji, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bemidji's boundary and the 11,162 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bemidji sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bemidji's 11,162 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Beltrami County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Beltrami 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 Beltrami County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bemidji's 11,162 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bemidji you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,162 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 Bemidji-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaBemidji sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides