Pipestone County, in Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Pipestone County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Pipestone 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 Pipestone County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Pipestone County — the short answer
Pipestone County, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 298K acres.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 298K 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 4b is Pipestone County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pipestone County's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Pipestone County
Across a year, Pipestone County accumulates about 2,281 growing degree days above 50°F, about 16 more than the middle Minnesota county — ahead of 45 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 Pipestone County
Across Pipestone County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Brookings, Kranzburg, and Estelline are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silty clay loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.4–7.0, neutral. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
67%
Hydric soils
19%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Pipestone County
The USDA soil survey maps 49% of Pipestone County as well drained — but another 51% drains differently: 23% moderately well drained, 21% poorly drained.
Brookings is the most extensive named soil at 21% of mapped acres, then Kranzburg (15%) and Estelline (7%).
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 Pipestone County
Each reading below is measured for Pipestone 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 Pipestone 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 Pipestone County runs about pH 6.4–7.0, 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
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 19% of Pipestone 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
MeasuredPipestone County runs about 169 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
The kind of country Pipestone County is in
Pipestone County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Northern Glaciated Plains (53%) and Western Corn Belt Plains (47%). 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 Pipestone County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Pipestone County's own USDA zone 4b and its own 169-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 Pipestone County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What gets applied to farmland in Pipestone County
USGS estimates 137,257 lb of Glyphosate on Pipestone County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Acetochlor (109,418 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (40,178 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 Pipestone County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Pipestone County — 178 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site (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 Pipestone 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 Pipestone County
Closest first, across Pipestone County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CARGILL INC - PIPESTONEBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- HORD FARMS WEST - ROCK ISLAND FINISHERCAFO · 0.9 mi
- VILAND IMPLEMENT INCBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- PIPESTONE COUNTY IMPLEMENTBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- S & S TRUCK REPAIRBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- WILSON MANUFACTURING CO INCBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- SCOTT'S AUTO CENTERBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- SIOUX VALLEY SOUTHWESTERN ELECTRICBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- US MARINE CORPToxics Release Inventory · 2.7 mi
- BAYLINER MARINE CORPS.Toxics Release Inventory · 2.7 mi
- G & S BODY SHOP INCBrownfields · 2.7 mi
- Cellular OneUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pipestone 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 Pipestone County.
Total Sites
178
across Pipestone County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Pipestone County
Severity Distribution
across Pipestone County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pipestone County, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 37 sites across Pipestone County. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Pipestone 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 Pipestone County average
Your land is one point inside Pipestone County
Everything above resolves to Pipestone County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 298K 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 Pipestone County Average
Pipestone County Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Pipestone County
- ●One soil character for all of Pipestone County
- ●Frost dates read at Pipestone County's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pipestone County's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Pipestone County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pipestone County, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pipestone County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pipestone County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pipestone County average
How we know this about Pipestone 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 Pipestone County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Pipestone County
When does frost risk typically end in Pipestone County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pipestone County typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
How long is the growing season in Pipestone County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pipestone County sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Sep 26, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pipestone County?
The federal record around Pipestone County is a meaningful one — 178 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (58), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.9 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 Pipestone County's scale — its 4b band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pipestone 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 Pipestone County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Pipestone County's own scale — its own ~169-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 178 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pipestone County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pipestone County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Pipestone CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 178 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 0.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Pipestone County's boundary and the 297,634 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Pipestone County spans, Northern Glaciated Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Pipestone 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 Pipestone County — the ~169 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 Pipestone County's 297,634 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 178 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 Pipestone Countyread your own land →