Bigfork, 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, epazote, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bigfork, 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 Bigfork 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 Bigfork — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bigfork — the short answer
Bigfork, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 146 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~146
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Bigfork's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bigfork's 146-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bigfork
Each reading below is measured for Bigfork itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBigfork runs about 146 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredBigfork 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 Bigfork is in
Bigfork sits in the Northern Minnesota Wetlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Bigfork's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Itasca County is mostly Northern Lakes and Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Bigfork
Every plant below cleared Bigfork's own zone 3b and its 146-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bigfork?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Bigfork
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bigfork. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BIGFORK AUTO BODYBrownfields · 75 ft
- Two Rivers CenexUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- NORTH ITASCA ELECTRIC COOP INCBrownfields · 200 ft
- Tims Sales & Service (66)Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Bigfork SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Bigfork Valley Hospital Addition/RemodelUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Kocians Family MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- BIGFORK VALLEY HOSPITAL ADDITION/REMODELBrownfields · 2200 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 20001Brownfields · 2400 ft
- MINNESOTA TIMBER AND MILLWORK INCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- ISD 318 BIG FORK HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- Bigfork Municipal AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bigfork'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 Bigfork.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bigfork
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bigfork
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bigfork, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 20 sites within ~10 miles of Bigfork. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Bigfork
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 Bigfork average
Your land is one point inside Bigfork
Everything above resolves to Bigfork as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Bigfork Average
Bigfork Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Bigfork
- ●One soil character for all of Bigfork
- ●Frost dates read at Bigfork's scale: May 9 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bigfork's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bigfork
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bigfork, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bigfork averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bigfork — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bigfork average
How we know this about Bigfork
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 Bigfork’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 Bigfork
When does frost risk typically end in Bigfork?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bigfork typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Bigfork?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bigfork typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 146 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bigfork?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bigfork sees about 146 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 18, about 111 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bigfork?
The federal record around Bigfork is light — 30 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (20), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Bigfork?
With about 146 frost-free days between hard freezes, Bigfork rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 174 to 202 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 9 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Bigfork's scale — its 3b band and its 146-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bigfork'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 Bigfork’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bigfork's own scale — its own ~146-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,190 acres it covers and 30 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bigfork's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bigfork's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 2 and the ~146-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 30 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bigfork, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bigfork's boundary and the 1,190 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~146-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Bigfork sits in the Northern Minnesota Wetlands — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bigfork's 1,190 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Itasca County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Itasca 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 Itasca County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bigfork's 1,190 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bigfork you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,190 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Bigfork-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaBigfork sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides