Chisholm, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Chisholm, 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 Chisholm 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 Chisholm — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Chisholm — the short answer
Chisholm, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- 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
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Chisholm's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Chisholm's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Chisholm
Each reading below is measured for Chisholm itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredChisholm runs about 148 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
MeasuredChisholm 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 Chisholm is in
Chisholm sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Chisholm's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Louis County.
What Grows in Chisholm
Every plant below cleared Chisholm's own zone 4a and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Chisholm?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (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. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Chisholm
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Chisholm. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RYANS INDEPENDENT ELECTRICBrownfields · 300 ft
- HECK KAREN A DDSBrownfields · 300 ft
- FREEDOM VALU #MN0009Brownfields · 550 ft
- Freedom Valu #MN0009Underground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- ADAM'S AUTO BODYBrownfields · 650 ft
- CHISHOLM CITY OF CITY GARAGEBrownfields · 700 ft
- MILTONS BODY SHOPBrownfields · 800 ft
- Chisholm City GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- FALLSTROM LESLIE EBrownfields · 950 ft
- CHISHOLM DENTAL SERVICEBrownfields · 950 ft
- ISD 695 Jr/Sr Superintendents OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- NHS NORTHSTARBrownfields · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Chisholm'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 Chisholm.
Total Sites
301
within ~10 miles of Chisholm
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Chisholm
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Chisholm
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Chisholm, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Chisholm — Superfund (4 sites) and Brownfields (149 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Chisholm
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 Chisholm average
Your land is one point inside Chisholm
Everything above resolves to Chisholm as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Chisholm Average
Chisholm Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Chisholm
- ●One soil character for all of Chisholm
- ●Frost dates read at Chisholm's scale: May 7 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Chisholm's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Chisholm
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Chisholm, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Chisholm averages can't show:
We read public map data around Chisholm — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Chisholm average
How we know this about Chisholm
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 Chisholm’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 Chisholm
When does frost risk typically end in Chisholm?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Chisholm typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Chisholm?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Chisholm 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 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Chisholm?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Chisholm sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 18, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Chisholm?
The federal record around Chisholm is a meaningful one — 301 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (149), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Chisholm?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Chisholm 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 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 7 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Chisholm's scale — its 4a band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Chisholm'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 Chisholm’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Chisholm's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,860 acres it covers and 301 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Chisholm's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Chisholm's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 2 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 301 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Chisholm, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Chisholm's boundary and the 2,860 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Chisholm'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 Chisholm's 2,860 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Louis County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Louis 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 St. Louis County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Chisholm's 2,860 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Chisholm you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,860 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 Chisholm-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaChisholm sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides