Houston County, in Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Houston County lies within the Driftless Area — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Houston County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Houston County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Houston County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Houston County — the short answer
Houston County, Minnesota: USDA zone 5a, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 353K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 353K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 5a is Houston County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Houston County's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Houston County
Across a year, Houston County accumulates about 2,301 growing degree days above 50°F, about 36 more than the middle Minnesota county — ahead of 50 of Minnesota’s 87 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Houston County
Across Houston County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Fayette, Lamoille, and Lacrescent are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.2–6.7, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
19%
Hydric soils
7%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Houston County
The USDA soil survey maps 82% of Houston County as well drained — but another 15% drains differently: 5% poorly drained, 4% moderately well drained.
Fayette is the most extensive named soil at 14% of mapped acres, then Lamoille (9%) and Lacrescent (8%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Houston County
Each reading below is measured for Houston County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Houston County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Houston County runs about pH 6.2–6.7, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredHouston County runs about 181 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
MeasuredHouston County sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Houston County is in
Houston County sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Houston County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Houston County's own USDA zone 5a and its own 181-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile.
Is it too late to plant in Houston County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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.
Documented around Houston County
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
- monarch butterfly3 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Houston County
USGS estimates 78,519 lb of Glyphosate on Houston County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Acetochlor (43,843 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (26,863 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Houston County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Houston County — 252 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Houston County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Houston County
Closest first, across Houston County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Houston County AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 10343Brownfields · 1.7 mi
- ISD 299 CALEDONIA MIDDLE/HIGHBrownfields · 1.8 mi
- STERLING DRUG STORE 26Brownfields · 1.8 mi
- HERMAN DENTAL CLINIC PABrownfields · 1.9 mi
- 102N06W13ACD 01 CaledoniaNitrate · 1.9 mi
- CALEDONIA MUNICIPAL WELL CONTAMINATIONSuperfund · 2.0 mi
- 102N06W13BDCCCA01 Caledonia 0000649997Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- Kruckow ConstructionUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- OC ELLINGSONBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- CALEDONIA HAULERS INCBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- OC EllingsonUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Houston County'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 Houston County.
Total Sites
252
across Houston County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Houston County
Severity Distribution
across Houston County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Houston County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 108 sites across Houston County. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Houston County
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 Houston County average
Your land is one point inside Houston County
Everything above resolves to Houston County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 353K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Houston County Average
Houston County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Houston County
- ●One soil character for all of Houston County
- ●Frost dates read at Houston County's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Houston County's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Houston County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Houston County, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Houston County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Houston County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Houston County average
How we know this about Houston County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Houston County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Houston County
When does frost risk typically end in Houston County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Houston County typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
How long is the growing season in Houston County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Houston County sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 5, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Houston County?
The federal record around Houston County is a meaningful one — 252 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (108), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.7 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.
Everything above is measured at Houston County's scale — its 5a band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Houston County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Minnesota's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Houston County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Houston County's own scale — its own ~181-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 252 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Houston County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Houston County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Houston CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 252 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.7 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Houston County's boundary and the 353,353 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Houston County sitting wholly inside the Driftless AreaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Houston County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Houston County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Minnesota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Minnesota
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Houston County — the ~181 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Houston County's 353,353 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 252 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Houston Countyread your own land →