Wadena County, in Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Wadena County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Wadena 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 Wadena County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Wadena County — the short answer
Wadena County, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 160 days between hard freezes, across 343K acres.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~160
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 343K 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 4a is Wadena County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wadena County's 160-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Wadena County
Across a year, Wadena County accumulates about 1,843 growing degree days above 50°F, about 422 fewer than the middle Minnesota county — ahead of 17 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 Wadena County
Across Wadena County, the ground is predominantly Entisols, where Friendship, Markey, and Seelyeville are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a loamy sand surface. Topsoil pH runs about 5.9–6.5, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Entisols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
8%
Hydric soils
41%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Wadena County
The USDA soil survey maps 27% of Wadena County as moderately well drained — but another 71% drains differently: 24% very poorly drained, 16% somewhat excessively drained.
Friendship is the most extensive named soil at 9% of mapped acres, then Markey (8%) and Seelyeville (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 Wadena County
Each reading below is measured for Wadena 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 Wadena County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group A — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Wadena County runs about pH 5.9–6.5, 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 41% of Wadena 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
MeasuredWadena County runs about 160 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 Wadena County is in
Wadena County sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Wadena County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Wadena County's own USDA zone 4a and its own 160-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 Wadena County?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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 Wadena County
- monarch butterfly15 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Wadena County
USGS estimates 26,094 lb of Glyphosate on Wadena County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Acetochlor (19,968 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (4,555 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 Wadena County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Wadena County — 245 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site. 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 Wadena 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 Wadena County
Closest first, across Wadena County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Wadena County Highway DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Nimrod Forestry StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- 529399Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- Lake Construction And RecyclingUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Old Cheese FactoryUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- T&M Gas & OilUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- C-StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- At&t Radio Tower - SebekaUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Rife Stop N ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Old Sebeka Coop StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- 479802Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- KERN & TABERY INCBrownfields · 5.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wadena 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 Wadena County.
Sources Checked
across Wadena County
Severity Distribution
across Wadena County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wadena County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 64 sites across Wadena 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 Wadena 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 Wadena County average
Your land is one point inside Wadena County
Everything above resolves to Wadena County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 343K 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 Wadena County Average
Wadena County Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Wadena County
- ●One soil character for all of Wadena County
- ●Frost dates read at Wadena County's scale: May 1 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wadena County's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Wadena County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wadena County, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wadena County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wadena County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wadena County average
How we know this about Wadena 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 Wadena County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Wadena County
When does frost risk typically end in Wadena County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wadena County typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
How long is the growing season in Wadena County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wadena County sees about 160 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 24, about 125 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wadena County?
The federal record around Wadena County is a meaningful one — 245 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (97), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Wadena County's scale — its 4a band and its 160-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wadena 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 Wadena County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Wadena County's own scale — its own ~160-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 245 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wadena County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wadena County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~160-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Wadena CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 245 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Wadena County's boundary and the 343,262 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~160-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Wadena County sitting wholly inside the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Wadena County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Wadena 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 Wadena County — the ~160 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 Wadena County's 343,262 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 245 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 Wadena Countyread your own land →