Boy River, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Boy River, 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 Boy River 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 Boy River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Boy River — the short answer
Boy River, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 239 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- 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 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 239 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 Boy River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Boy River's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Boy River
Each reading below is measured for Boy River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBoy River runs about 162 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
MeasuredBoy River 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 Boy River is in
Boy River sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Boy River's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cass County.
What Grows in Boy River
Every plant below cleared Boy River's own zone 3b and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Boy River?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 11 — 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 Boy River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Boy River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 516114Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- Montes GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- Tonga Boat LaunchUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- Riverside Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- Longville Municipal AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.1 mi
- Jerry's One Stop IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
- Tabakas Super ValuUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
- NORTHLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOLBrownfields · 8.6 mi
- MNDOT DISTRICT 3A REMERBrownfields · 8.6 mi
- Sugar Point ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.2 mi
Measured from Boy River'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 Boy River.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Boy River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Boy River
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Boy River
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 Boy River average
Your land is one point inside Boy River
Everything above resolves to Boy River as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 239 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 Boy River Average
Boy River Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Boy River
- ●One soil character for all of Boy River
- ●Frost dates read at Boy River's scale: May 2 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Boy River's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Boy River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Boy River, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Boy River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Boy River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Boy River average
How we know this about Boy River
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 Boy River’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 Boy River
When does frost risk typically end in Boy River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Boy River 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 Boy River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Boy River typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Boy River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Boy River sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 27, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Boy River?
The federal record around Boy River is light — 11 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (7), the nearest Nitrate record about 4.9 miles 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 I protect my plants from frost in Boy River?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Boy River's scale — its 3b band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Boy River'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 Boy River’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Boy River's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 239 acres it covers and 11 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Boy River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Boy River's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 11 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 11 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Boy River, the closest Nitrate record about 4.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Boy River's boundary and the 239 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Boy River'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 Boy River's 239 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cass County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cass 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 Cass County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Boy River's 239 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Boy River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 239 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 4.9 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 Boy River-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaBoy River sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides