Fisher, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Fisher, 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 Fisher 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 Fisher — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fisher — the short answer
Fisher, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 163 days between hard freezes, across 273 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~163
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 273 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 4a is Fisher's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fisher's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fisher
Each reading below is measured for Fisher itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFisher runs about 163 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
MeasuredFisher sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Fisher is in
Fisher sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Fisher's own centroid rather than borrowed from Polk County.
What Grows in Fisher
Every plant below cleared Fisher's own zone 4a and its 163-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fisher?
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 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Fisher
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fisher. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Farmers Coop Fuel & HardwareUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- Farmers Coop Fuel & Hardware CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- Gordons RepairUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- AMERICAN CRYSTAL SUGAR - CROOKSTONToxics Release Inventory · 8.1 mi
- AMERICAN CRYSTAL SUGAR - CROOKSTONBrownfields · 8.1 mi
- Ampride Convenience CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- JAMESTOWN IMPLEMENT LLC DBA VALLEY PLAINS EQUIPBrownfields · 8.3 mi
- CROOKSTON PONTIAC BUICK GMCBrownfields · 8.3 mi
- TITAN MACHINERY CROOKSTONBrownfields · 8.4 mi
- POLK COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTBrownfields · 8.4 mi
- CHS AG SERVICESBrownfields · 8.4 mi
- CALUMET SUPERIOR LLC - CROOKSTONBrownfields · 8.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fisher'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 Fisher.
Total Sites
85
within ~10 miles of Fisher
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fisher
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fisher
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fisher, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 45 sites within ~10 miles of Fisher. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Fisher
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 Fisher average
Your land is one point inside Fisher
Everything above resolves to Fisher as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 273 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 Fisher Average
Fisher Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Fisher
- ●One soil character for all of Fisher
- ●Frost dates read at Fisher's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fisher's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fisher
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fisher, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fisher averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fisher — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fisher average
How we know this about Fisher
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 Fisher’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 Fisher
When does frost risk typically end in Fisher?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fisher typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Fisher?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fisher typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 163 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fisher?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fisher sees about 163 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 25, about 128 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fisher?
The federal record around Fisher is a meaningful one — 85 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (45), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 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 Fisher?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Fisher's scale — its 4a band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fisher'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 Fisher’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fisher's own scale — its own ~163-day season between 28°F freezes, the 273 acres it covers and 85 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fisher's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fisher's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 9 and the ~163-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 85 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fisher, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fisher's boundary and the 273 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~163-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fisher's own centroid, the Lake Agassiz PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fisher's 273 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Polk County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Polk 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 Polk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fisher's 273 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fisher you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 273 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.6 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 Fisher-wide figureread your own land →
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