Forada, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Forada, 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 Forada 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 Forada — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Forada — the short answer
Forada, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 344 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- 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
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 344 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 Forada's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Forada's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Forada
Each reading below is measured for Forada itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredForada runs about 181 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
MeasuredForada 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 Forada is in
Forada sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Forada's own centroid rather than borrowed from Douglas County.
What Grows in Forada
Every plant below cleared Forada's own zone 4b and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Forada?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (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. 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 Forada
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Forada. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 566406Nitrate · 1300 ft
- J & B LiquorUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Barto's FarmsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 456273Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- 596729Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- 581676Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- 606418Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- 467820Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- WEST CENTRAL SANITATION INC - ALEXANDRIABrownfields · 3.1 mi
- Minnerath Investment PartnershipUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Runestone Electric Assn WarehouseUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- CENTRAL SPECIALTIES INCToxics Release Inventory · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Forada'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 Forada.
Total Sites
381
within ~10 miles of Forada
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Forada
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Forada
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Forada
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 Forada average
Your land is one point inside Forada
Everything above resolves to Forada as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 344 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 Forada Average
Forada Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Forada
- ●One soil character for all of Forada
- ●Frost dates read at Forada's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Forada's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Forada
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Forada, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Forada averages can't show:
We read public map data around Forada — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Forada average
How we know this about Forada
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 Forada’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 Forada
When does frost risk typically end in Forada?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Forada typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Forada?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Forada 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 181 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Forada?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Forada sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 5, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Forada?
The federal record around Forada is a meaningful one — 381 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (166), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 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 Forada?
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 Forada's scale — its 4b band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Forada'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 Forada’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Forada's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 344 acres it covers and 381 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Forada's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Forada's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 19 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 381 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Forada, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Forada's boundary and the 344 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Forada's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Forada's 344 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Douglas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Douglas 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 Douglas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Forada's 344 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Forada you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 344 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Forada-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaForada sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides