Breckenridge, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Breckenridge, 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 Breckenridge 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 Breckenridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Breckenridge — the short answer
Breckenridge, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 4a is Breckenridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Breckenridge's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Breckenridge
Each reading below is measured for Breckenridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBreckenridge runs about 171 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
MeasuredBreckenridge sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Breckenridge is in
Breckenridge sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Breckenridge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wilkin County.
What Grows in Breckenridge
Every plant below cleared Breckenridge's own zone 4a and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Breckenridge?
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 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Breckenridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Breckenridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Stop-n-go #415Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- FARM CITY SUPPLYBrownfields · 900 ft
- RED RIVER VALLEY & WESTERN RABrownfields · 1300 ft
- Breck TesoroUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- WILKIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICEBrownfields · 1900 ft
- CHAMPION AUTO STORES BRECKENRBrownfields · 1900 ft
- FARMERS UNION OIL OF SOUTHERNBrownfields · 2000 ft
- Mn Dept Of TransporationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- MNDOT D4 BRECKENRIDGEBrownfields · 2200 ft
- BRECKENRIDGE CITY OFBrownfields · 2300 ft
- MOTOR MAGICBrownfields · 2500 ft
- Breckenridge Public School/bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Breckenridge'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 Breckenridge.
Total Sites
176
within ~10 miles of Breckenridge
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
10 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Breckenridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Breckenridge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Breckenridge, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 66 sites within ~10 miles of Breckenridge. 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 Breckenridge
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 Breckenridge average
Your land is one point inside Breckenridge
Everything above resolves to Breckenridge as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Breckenridge Average
Breckenridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Breckenridge
- ●One soil character for all of Breckenridge
- ●Frost dates read at Breckenridge's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Breckenridge's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Breckenridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Breckenridge, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Breckenridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Breckenridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Breckenridge average
How we know this about Breckenridge
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 Breckenridge’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 Breckenridge
When does frost risk typically end in Breckenridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Breckenridge typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Breckenridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Breckenridge typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Breckenridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Breckenridge sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Sep 28, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Breckenridge?
The federal record around Breckenridge shows 176 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (66), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Breckenridge?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Breckenridge's scale — its 4a band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Breckenridge'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 Breckenridge’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Breckenridge's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,661 acres it covers and 176 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Breckenridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Breckenridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 12 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 176 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Breckenridge, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Breckenridge's boundary and the 1,661 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Breckenridge's own centroid, the Lake Agassiz PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Breckenridge's 1,661 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wilkin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wilkin 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 Wilkin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Breckenridge's 1,661 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Breckenridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,661 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 Breckenridge-wide figureread your own land →
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