Fairmont, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fairmont, 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 Fairmont 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 Fairmont — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fairmont — the short answer
Fairmont, Minnesota: USDA zone 5a, about 187 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~187
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 10K 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 5a is Fairmont's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fairmont's 187-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fairmont
Each reading below is measured for Fairmont itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFairmont runs about 187 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
MeasuredFairmont sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Fairmont is in
Fairmont sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Fairmont's own centroid rather than borrowed from Martin County.
What Grows in Fairmont
Every plant below cleared Fairmont's own zone 5a and its 187-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fairmont?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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 Fairmont
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fairmont. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ANTHONY CHRISTIANSEN PROPERTYBrownfields · 1900 ft
- WATER FILTRATION PLANTBrownfields · 2000 ft
- FAIRMONT CHAIN OF LAKESSuperfund · 2000 ft
- BOB ENGMAN PAINTING & DECORATBrownfields · 2500 ft
- GENE'S CLEANERSBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Caseys General Store #1772Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- LAKEVIEW METHODIST HEALTH CAREBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Lakeview Methodist Health CareUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Standard Oil StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- RICHARD'S AUTO REPAIR & TOWINGBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- MARTIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICEBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- LUND CHIROPRACTIC CLINICBrownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fairmont'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 Fairmont.
Total Sites
220
within ~10 miles of Fairmont
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fairmont
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fairmont
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fairmont, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Fairmont. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Fairmont
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 Fairmont average
Your land is one point inside Fairmont
Everything above resolves to Fairmont as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 10K 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 Fairmont Average
Fairmont Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Fairmont
- ●One soil character for all of Fairmont
- ●Frost dates read at Fairmont's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fairmont's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fairmont
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fairmont, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fairmont averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fairmont — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fairmont average
How we know this about Fairmont
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 Fairmont’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 Fairmont
When does frost risk typically end in Fairmont?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fairmont typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Fairmont?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fairmont typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 187 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fairmont?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fairmont sees about 187 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 5, about 152 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fairmont?
The federal record around Fairmont is a meaningful one — 220 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (83), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 I protect my plants from frost in Fairmont?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fairmont's scale — its 5a band and its 187-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fairmont'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 Fairmont’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fairmont's own scale — its own ~187-day season between 28°F freezes, the 9,599 acres it covers and 220 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fairmont's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fairmont's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 19 and the ~187-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 220 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fairmont, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fairmont's boundary and the 9,599 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~187-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fairmont'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 Fairmont's 9,599 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Martin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Martin 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 Martin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fairmont's 9,599 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fairmont you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,599 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 Fairmont-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaFairmont sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.