Evan, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Evan, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Evan lot. 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 Evan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Evan — the short answer
Evan, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 661 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 661 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 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 Evan's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Evan's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Evan
Each reading below is measured for Evan itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEvan runs about 180 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
MeasuredEvan sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Evan is in
Evan sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Evan's own centroid rather than borrowed from Brown County.
What Grows in Evan
Every plant below cleared Evan's own zone 4b and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Evan?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Evan
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Evan. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RASMUSSEN BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1500 ft
- CHRISTENSEN FARMS SITE C002CAFO · 1.7 mi
- MULTI-SITE - CHRISTENSEN FARMS SITES C002 & C006CAFO · 1.7 mi
- TIM AND DAVE SCHIEFFERT - NEWCAFO · 2.7 mi
- 471825Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- TIM AND DAVE SCHIEFFERT - OLDCAFO · 3.9 mi
- RICHARD MAURER FARMCAFO · 4.0 mi
- BRAUN ENTERPRISECAFO · 4.0 mi
- MNDOT DISTRICT 7 SLEEPY EYE TRUCK STATIONBrownfields · 4.8 mi
- HACKER FARMS INCCAFO · 5.2 mi
- Morgan Oil Of Morgan IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
- Wayne's C-StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Evan'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 Evan.
Total Sites
113
within ~10 miles of Evan
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Evan
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Evan
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Evan, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 21 sites within ~10 miles of Evan. 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 Evan
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 Evan average
Your land is one point inside Evan
Everything above resolves to Evan as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 661 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 city 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 local average.
Your Lot vs the Evan Average
Evan Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Evan
- ●One soil character for all of Evan
- ●Frost dates read at Evan's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Evan's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Evan
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Evan, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Evan averages can't show:
We read public map data around Evan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Evan average
How we know this about Evan
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Evan’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Evan
When does frost risk typically end in Evan?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Evan typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Evan?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Evan typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Evan?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Evan sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 1, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Evan?
The federal record around Evan shows 113 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (36), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles 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.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Evan?
From about Sep 15 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Evan's scale — its 4b band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Evan's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Evan’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Evan's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 661 acres it covers and 113 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Evan's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Evan's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 15 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 113 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Evan, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Evan's boundary and the 661 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Evan's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Evan's 661 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Brown County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Brown County
- The growing challenges every Minnesota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Minnesota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Brown County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Evan's 661 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Evan you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 661 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Evan-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaEvan sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides