Kittson County, in Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Kittson County lies within the Red River Valley — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Kittson County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Kittson 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 Kittson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Kittson County — the short answer
Kittson County, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 155 days between hard freezes, across 703K acres.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~155
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 703K 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 3b is Kittson County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kittson County's 155-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Kittson County
Across a year, Kittson County accumulates about 1,784 growing degree days above 50°F, about 481 fewer than the middle Minnesota county — ahead of 15 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 Kittson County
Across Kittson County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Northcote, Percy, and Rosewood are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally poorly drained with a clay surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.2–7.9, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Poorly drained
Prime farmland
6%
Hydric soils
75%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Kittson County
The USDA soil survey maps 57% of Kittson County as poorly drained — but another 43% drains differently: 15% somewhat poorly drained, 14% very poorly drained.
Northcote is the most extensive named soil at 22% of mapped acres, then Percy (6%) and Rosewood (6%).
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 Kittson County
Each reading below is measured for Kittson 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 Kittson County are poorly drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that sheds water slowly.
Beds can stay saturated for days after heavy rain, and the roots of most vegetables, berries, and fruit trees suffocate or rot in soil that never drains.
Raised beds or mounded rows lift roots above the wet zone; choose water-tolerant crops for the lowest spots.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Kittson County runs about pH 7.2–7.9, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredKittson County runs about 155 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
MeasuredKittson County 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 Kittson County is in
Kittson County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Lake Agassiz Plain (86%) and Northern Minnesota Wetlands (14%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Kittson County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Kittson County's own USDA zone 3b and its own 155-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 Kittson County?
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 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (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.
Documented around Kittson County
- monarch butterfly1 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Kittson County
USGS estimates 178,588 lb of Glyphosate on Kittson County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (44,144 lb) and Metolachlor-s (39,406 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 Kittson County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Kittson County — 162 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Toxics Release Inventory facility. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Kittson County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Kittson County
Closest first, across Kittson County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Humboldt Vortac FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- 161N48W12CDB 01 BenstromNitrate · 1.5 mi
- 161N47W09DCC 01 SjostrandNitrate · 1.7 mi
- 161N48W14BBD 01 BlomquistNitrate · 2.7 mi
- 161N46W30CCD 01 Lk BronsonNitrate · 5.6 mi
- ISD 356 LANCASTER PUBLIC SCHOOLSBrownfields · 5.6 mi
- 162N48W13ADC 01 LancasterNitrate · 5.8 mi
- 162N48W13ADB 01 Lncstr CmyNitrate · 5.9 mi
- Lake Bronson Farmers Union Oil C-StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- 161N46W30CBD 01 Lk BronsonNitrate · 6.0 mi
- Lake Bronson State ParkUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- 162N47W24DDC 01 D LeskiwNitrate · 6.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kittson 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 Kittson County.
Total Sites
162
across Kittson County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
across Kittson County
Severity Distribution
across Kittson County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kittson County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 90 sites across Kittson County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Kittson 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 Kittson County average
Your land is one point inside Kittson County
Everything above resolves to Kittson County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 703K 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 Kittson County Average
Kittson County Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Kittson County
- ●One soil character for all of Kittson County
- ●Frost dates read at Kittson County's scale: May 5 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kittson County's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Kittson County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kittson County, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kittson County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kittson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kittson County average
How we know this about Kittson 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 Kittson County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Kittson County
When does frost risk typically end in Kittson County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kittson County typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
How long is the growing season in Kittson County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kittson County sees about 155 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 23, about 120 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kittson County?
The federal record around Kittson County shows 162 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (90), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
Everything above is measured at Kittson County's scale — its 3b band and its 155-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kittson 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 Kittson County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Kittson County's own scale — its own ~155-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 162 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kittson County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kittson County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~155-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Kittson CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 162 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile outFederal environmental registers
- Kittson County's boundary and the 703,359 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~155-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Kittson County spans, Lake Agassiz Plain the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Kittson County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Kittson 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 Kittson County — the ~155 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 Kittson County's 703,359 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 162 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 Kittson Countyread your own land →