Cohasset, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Cohasset, 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 Cohasset 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 Cohasset — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cohasset — the short answer
Cohasset, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 18K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- 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 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 18K 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 Cohasset's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cohasset's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cohasset
Each reading below is measured for Cohasset itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCohasset runs about 161 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
MeasuredCohasset 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 Cohasset is in
Cohasset sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Cohasset's own centroid rather than borrowed from Itasca County.
What Grows in Cohasset
Every plant below cleared Cohasset's own zone 4a and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cohasset?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Cohasset
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cohasset. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Cohasset - County GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Colby ManufacturingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Old Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Cohasset ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Simons Trucking Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Cohasset Concrete ProductsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- BOSWELL ENERGY CENTERBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- BOSWELL ENERGY CENTERToxics Release Inventory · 1.4 mi
- 055N26W09BDC 02Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- MINNESOTA POWER DISCHARGESuperfund · 1.7 mi
- MINNESOTA POWER INC - BOSWELL ENERGY CENTERBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- LONZA GREENWOOD LLCBrownfields · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cohasset'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 Cohasset.
Total Sites
303
within ~10 miles of Cohasset
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cohasset
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cohasset
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cohasset, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 148 sites within ~10 miles of Cohasset. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Cohasset
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 Cohasset average
Your land is one point inside Cohasset
Everything above resolves to Cohasset as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 18K 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 Cohasset Average
Cohasset Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Cohasset
- ●One soil character for all of Cohasset
- ●Frost dates read at Cohasset's scale: May 3 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cohasset's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cohasset
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cohasset, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cohasset averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cohasset — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cohasset average
How we know this about Cohasset
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 Cohasset’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 Cohasset
When does frost risk typically end in Cohasset?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cohasset 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 Cohasset?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cohasset typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cohasset?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cohasset sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 27, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cohasset?
The federal record around Cohasset is a meaningful one — 303 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (148), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles 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 Cohasset?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cohasset's scale — its 4a band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cohasset'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 Cohasset’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cohasset's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 17,705 acres it covers and 303 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cohasset's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cohasset's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 11 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 303 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cohasset, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cohasset's boundary and the 17,705 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cohasset'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 Cohasset's 17,705 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Itasca County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Itasca 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 Itasca County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cohasset's 17,705 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cohasset you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 17,705 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.2 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 Cohasset-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaCohasset sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides