Bigelow, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bigelow, 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 Bigelow 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 Bigelow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bigelow — the short answer
Bigelow, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 252 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 252 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 Bigelow's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bigelow's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bigelow
Each reading below is measured for Bigelow itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBigelow runs about 173 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
MeasuredBigelow 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 Bigelow is in
Bigelow sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Bigelow's own centroid rather than borrowed from Nobles County.
What Grows in Bigelow
Every plant below cleared Bigelow's own zone 4b and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bigelow?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — 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 Bigelow
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bigelow. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Russell Drainage/Former Bigelow 66 ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- FELDKAMP FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- United CoopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- WEG'S BLUE & WHITE DAIRYCAFO · 2.8 mi
- 101N40W27ABC 01 Worthington 25Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- 101N40W27DAD 01 Worthington 28Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 101N40W26CCC 01 Worthington 26Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- 101N40W26CCC 01 Worthington 24Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- 456327Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- 101N41W15CCD 01 R RogersNitrate · 4.0 mi
- SON D FARMS THOMPSON FINISHERS (LOCATION 8)CAFO · 4.7 mi
- 223660Nitrate · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bigelow'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 Bigelow.
Total Sites
213
within ~10 miles of Bigelow
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bigelow
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bigelow
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bigelow, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bigelow — CAFO (8 sites) and Nitrate (66 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Bigelow
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 Bigelow average
Your land is one point inside Bigelow
Everything above resolves to Bigelow as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 252 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 Bigelow Average
Bigelow Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Bigelow
- ●One soil character for all of Bigelow
- ●Frost dates read at Bigelow's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bigelow's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bigelow
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bigelow, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bigelow averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bigelow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bigelow average
How we know this about Bigelow
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 Bigelow’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 Bigelow
When does frost risk typically end in Bigelow?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bigelow typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Bigelow?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bigelow typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bigelow?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bigelow sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Sep 29, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bigelow?
The federal record around Bigelow is a meaningful one — 213 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (69), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Bigelow?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bigelow's scale — its 4b band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bigelow'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 Bigelow’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bigelow's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 252 acres it covers and 213 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bigelow's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bigelow's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 13 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 213 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bigelow, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bigelow's boundary and the 252 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bigelow'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 Bigelow's 252 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Nobles County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Nobles 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 Nobles County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bigelow's 252 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bigelow you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 252 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 Bigelow-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaBigelow sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides