Cambridge, 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.
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 Cambridge, 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cambridge — the short answer
Cambridge, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- 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
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 5K 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 Cambridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cambridge's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cambridge
Each reading below is measured for Cambridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCambridge runs about 170 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
MeasuredCambridge 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 Cambridge is in
Cambridge sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cambridge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Isanti County.
What Grows in Cambridge
Every plant below cleared Cambridge's own zone 4b and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cambridge?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Cambridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cambridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LARSON AUTO BODYBrownfields · 500 ft
- FRESENIUS KIDNEY CARE CAMBRIDGE CLINIC # 101327Brownfields · 800 ft
- Cambridge Automotive Services IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- JRETTENMALER USA LPToxics Release Inventory · 1400 ft
- ISANTI COUNTY SHERIFFBrownfields · 1500 ft
- ISD 911 Camb-Isanti Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CANADIAN HARVEST LPBrownfields · 1900 ft
- Minnesota Extended Treatment OptionUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- CAMBRIDGE MEDICAL CENTERBrownfields · 2100 ft
- ISD 911 CAMB-ISANTI BUS GARAGEBrownfields · 2100 ft
- ALLINA HEALTH PHARMACY CAMBRIDGEBrownfields · 2100 ft
- Holiday Stationstore #46Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cambridge'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 Cambridge.
Total Sites
291
within ~10 miles of Cambridge
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cambridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cambridge
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Cambridge
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 Cambridge average
Your land is one point inside Cambridge
Everything above resolves to Cambridge as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Cambridge Average
Cambridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Cambridge
- ●One soil character for all of Cambridge
- ●Frost dates read at Cambridge's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cambridge's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cambridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cambridge, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cambridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cambridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cambridge average
How we know this about Cambridge
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 Cambridge’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 Cambridge
When does frost risk typically end in Cambridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cambridge typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Cambridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cambridge 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 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cambridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cambridge sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Sep 29, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cambridge?
The federal record around Cambridge is a meaningful one — 291 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (127), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Cambridge?
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 Cambridge's scale — its 4b band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cambridge'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 Cambridge’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cambridge's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,787 acres it covers and 291 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cambridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cambridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 13 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 291 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cambridge, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cambridge's boundary and the 4,787 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cambridge's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cambridge's 4,787 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Isanti County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Isanti 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 Isanti County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cambridge's 4,787 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cambridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,787 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 Cambridge-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaCambridge sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides