Garrison, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Garrison, 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 Garrison 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 Garrison — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Garrison — the short answer
Garrison, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 670 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 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 670 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 Garrison's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Garrison's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Garrison
Each reading below is measured for Garrison itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGarrison runs about 165 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
MeasuredGarrison 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 Garrison is in
Garrison sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Garrison's own centroid rather than borrowed from Crow Wing County.
What Grows in Garrison
Every plant below cleared Garrison's own zone 4a and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Garrison?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 11 — 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 Garrison
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Garrison. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RIVERWOOD GARRISON CLINICBrownfields · 500 ft
- MILLE LACS FAMILY CLINIC GARRISONBrownfields · 600 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 17764Brownfields · 1200 ft
- Garrison AmocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Lingwall GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Former Arnies StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 497900Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 044N28W03BDC 01-1 0000497743Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- 469869Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- GEO'S PAINT & FINISHING LLCBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- 044N28W03BDC 01-2 0000497744Nitrate · 2.6 mi
- Mndot District 3a GarrisonUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Garrison'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 Garrison.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Garrison
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Garrison
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Garrison, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 56 sites within ~10 miles of Garrison. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Garrison
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 Garrison average
Your land is one point inside Garrison
Everything above resolves to Garrison as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 670 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 Garrison Average
Garrison Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Garrison
- ●One soil character for all of Garrison
- ●Frost dates read at Garrison's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Garrison's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Garrison
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Garrison, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Garrison averages can't show:
We read public map data around Garrison — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Garrison average
How we know this about Garrison
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 Garrison’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 Garrison
When does frost risk typically end in Garrison?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Garrison 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 Garrison?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Garrison typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Garrison?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Garrison sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 27, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Garrison?
The federal record around Garrison shows 101 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (56), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Garrison?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Garrison's scale — its 4a band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Garrison'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 Garrison’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Garrison's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 670 acres it covers and 101 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Garrison's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Garrison's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 11 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 101 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Garrison, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Garrison's boundary and the 670 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Garrison's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Garrison's 670 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Crow Wing County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Crow Wing 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 Crow Wing County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Garrison's 670 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Garrison you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 670 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Garrison-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaGarrison sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.