Lake 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Lake County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Lake 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 Lake County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lake County — the short answer
Lake County, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 137 days between hard freezes, across 1.3M acres.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~137
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 1.3M 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 Lake County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake County's 137-day season, see what your own ground reads.
One county, several growing seasons
Lake County's hard-freeze record runs about 137 days between freezes — but that is the county-wide average, and several towns inside it carry a markedly different season in their own 30-year record: Knife River at about 175 days (against the county's ~137).
Those are measured records, not estimates. If you garden in one of these pockets, plant against your own town's season rather than the county's ~137-day average.
NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020), 30-year daily minimum record. Only held-out towns carrying their own record are named — a town with no record of its own is absent rather than estimated, and a county with nothing qualifying shows no spread at all.
Heat in Lake County
Across a year, Lake County accumulates about 1,196 growing degree days above 50°F, about 1,069 fewer than the middle Minnesota county — ahead of 1 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 Lake County
Across Lake County, the ground is predominantly Inceptisols, where Greenwood, Eveleth, and Conic are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a stony loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.9–5.6, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Inceptisols
Drainage
Well drained
Hydric soils
41%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Lake County
The USDA soil survey maps 40% of Lake County as well drained — but another 51% drains differently: 24% very poorly drained, 14% moderately well drained.
Greenwood is the most extensive named soil at 11% of mapped acres, then Eveleth (11%) and Conic (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 Lake County
Each reading below is measured for Lake 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 Lake County are well drained, in hydrologic group C — 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 Lake County runs about pH 4.9–5.6, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 41% of Lake County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredLake County runs about 137 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
The kind of country Lake County is in
Lake County sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Lake County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Lake County's own USDA zone 3b and its own 137-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 Lake 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 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
Documented around Lake County
- monarch butterfly17 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Lake County
USGS estimates 45 lb of Glyphosate on Lake County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (42 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (8 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 Lake County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Lake County — 207 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 Lake 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 Lake County
Closest first, across Lake County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Formerly Preblich Oil Co/IsabellaUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- Environmental Learning CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- Twins & OthersUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- USDA FS Superior Natl Forest IsabellaUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.2 mi
- Moose Ridge InnUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- Coolidge BrothersUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.7 mi
- Madison Well DrillingUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.7 mi
- Knotted Pine InnUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.1 mi
- Little Colonial EstatesUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.7 mi
- Silver Bay Co 72397Underground Storage Tanks · 9.7 mi
- North Shore Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.7 mi
- Former Illgen City Truck StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake 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 Lake County.
Total Sites
207
across Lake County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Lake County
Severity Distribution
across Lake County
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Lake 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 Lake County average
Your land is one point inside Lake County
Everything above resolves to Lake County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 1.3M 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 Lake County Average
Lake County Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Lake County
- ●One soil character for all of Lake County
- ●Frost dates read at Lake County's scale: May 14 to Sep 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake County's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Lake County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake County, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake County average
How we know this about Lake 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 Lake County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Lake County
When does frost risk typically end in Lake County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake County typically lands around May 14, 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 Jun 4.
How long is the growing season in Lake County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake County sees about 137 frost-free days — roughly May 14 through Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 4 to Sep 14, about 102 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake County?
The federal record around Lake County is a meaningful one — 207 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (87), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 6.5 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 gardeners stretch the season in Lake County?
With about 137 frost-free days between hard freezes, Lake County 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 165 to 193 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 14 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Lake County's scale — its 3b band and its 137-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake 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 Lake County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Lake County's own scale — its own ~137-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 207 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lake County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~137-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Lake CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 207 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 6.5 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Lake County's boundary and the 1,349,828 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~137-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Lake County sitting wholly inside the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Lake County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Lake 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 Lake County — the ~137 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 Lake County's 1,349,828 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 207 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 Lake Countyread your own land →