Clearbrook, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — 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 Clearbrook, 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 Clearbrook 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 Clearbrook — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Clearbrook — the short answer
Clearbrook, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 314 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 314 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 Clearbrook's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clearbrook's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Clearbrook
Each reading below is measured for Clearbrook itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredClearbrook runs about 157 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
MeasuredClearbrook 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 Clearbrook is in
Clearbrook sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Clearbrook's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Clearwater County is mostly Northern Lakes and Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Clearbrook
Every plant below cleared Clearbrook's own zone 3b and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Clearbrook?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 Clearbrook
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clearbrook. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Community Oil Co Bulk PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Y92 ConvenienceUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- THRIFTY WHITE DRUG 747Brownfields · 850 ft
- AC Oil StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- CLEARBROOK COLLISION CENTERBrownfields · 1800 ft
- ENBRIDGE ENERGY - CLEARBROOK TERMINALBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- ENBRIDGE ENERGY LIMITED PARTNERSHIP - CLEARBROOK TERMINALBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- 149N37W31AAA 02Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- 478446Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- 148N37W18BBC 02Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- CLEARWATER SMALL ENGINE REPAIRBrownfields · 4.3 mi
- Main Street ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clearbrook'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 Clearbrook.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Clearbrook
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Clearbrook
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Clearbrook, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 12 sites within ~10 miles of Clearbrook. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Clearbrook
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 Clearbrook average
Your land is one point inside Clearbrook
Everything above resolves to Clearbrook as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 314 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 Clearbrook Average
Clearbrook Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Clearbrook
- ●One soil character for all of Clearbrook
- ●Frost dates read at Clearbrook's scale: May 3 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clearbrook's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Clearbrook
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clearbrook, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clearbrook averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clearbrook — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clearbrook average
How we know this about Clearbrook
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 Clearbrook’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 Clearbrook
When does frost risk typically end in Clearbrook?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clearbrook typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Clearbrook?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clearbrook typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Clearbrook?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clearbrook sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 23, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clearbrook?
The federal record around Clearbrook is light — 25 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (12), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Clearbrook?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Clearbrook's scale — its 3b band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clearbrook'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 Clearbrook’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Clearbrook's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 314 acres it covers and 25 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clearbrook's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Clearbrook's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 7 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 25 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clearbrook, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Clearbrook's boundary and the 314 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Clearbrook sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Clearbrook's 314 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clearwater County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clearwater 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 Clearwater County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clearbrook's 314 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Clearbrook you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 314 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Clearbrook-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaClearbrook sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.