Carlos, 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.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Carlos, 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 Carlos 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 Carlos — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Carlos — the short answer
Carlos, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 287 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 287 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 Carlos's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Carlos's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Carlos
Each reading below is measured for Carlos itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCarlos runs about 176 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
MeasuredCarlos 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 Carlos is in
Carlos sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Carlos's own centroid rather than borrowed from Douglas County.
What Grows in Carlos
Every plant below cleared Carlos's own zone 4a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Carlos?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — 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 Carlos
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Carlos. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DUN RITE AUTOBODYBrownfields · 350 ft
- BRENTON ENGINEERING COMPANY-SOFTENERBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL #22055Brownfields · 1.0 mi
- CONTECH ENGINEERED SOLUTIONS LLCBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- Gas Mart Of Carlos CornersUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 129N36W18CBB 01Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- 659311Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- COLLECTOR'S CHOICEBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- Former Carstensen RepairUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- COATING SPECIALTIES LLCBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- COLLINS CABINETS OF ALEX INCBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- Lake Carlos State ParkUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Carlos'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 Carlos.
Total Sites
314
within ~10 miles of Carlos
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Carlos
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Carlos
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 Carlos
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 Carlos average
Your land is one point inside Carlos
Everything above resolves to Carlos as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 287 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 Carlos Average
Carlos Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Carlos
- ●One soil character for all of Carlos
- ●Frost dates read at Carlos's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Carlos's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Carlos
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Carlos, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Carlos averages can't show:
We read public map data around Carlos — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Carlos average
How we know this about Carlos
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 Carlos’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 Carlos
When does frost risk typically end in Carlos?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Carlos typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Carlos?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Carlos typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Carlos?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Carlos sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 1, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Carlos?
The federal record around Carlos is a meaningful one — 314 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (145), 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 Carlos?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Carlos's scale — its 4a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Carlos'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 Carlos’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Carlos's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 287 acres it covers and 314 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Carlos's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Carlos's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 15 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 314 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Carlos, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Carlos's boundary and the 287 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Carlos'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 Carlos's 287 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Douglas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Douglas 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 Douglas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Carlos's 287 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Carlos you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 287 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 Carlos-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaCarlos sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides