Grasston, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Grasston, 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 Grasston 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 Grasston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Grasston — the short answer
Grasston, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 597 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- 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
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 597 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 Grasston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Grasston's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Grasston
Each reading below is measured for Grasston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGrasston runs about 166 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
MeasuredGrasston 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 Grasston is in
Grasston sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Grasston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kanabec County.
What Grows in Grasston
Every plant below cleared Grasston's own zone 4a and its 166-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Grasston?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Grasston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Grasston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Former Hardware StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- First National Bank PropertyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- 179606Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- 514589Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- 536397Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- Formerly Tavern StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- Former Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- 515663Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- Braham Bus CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- East Central Electric AssnUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- Main Street Video BrahamUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- Braham Motor Service IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Grasston'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 Grasston.
Total Sites
216
within ~10 miles of Grasston
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Grasston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Grasston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Grasston, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 68 sites within ~10 miles of Grasston. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Grasston
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 Grasston average
Your land is one point inside Grasston
Everything above resolves to Grasston as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 597 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 Grasston Average
Grasston Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Grasston
- ●One soil character for all of Grasston
- ●Frost dates read at Grasston's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Grasston's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Grasston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Grasston, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Grasston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Grasston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Grasston average
How we know this about Grasston
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 Grasston’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 Grasston
When does frost risk typically end in Grasston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Grasston typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Grasston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Grasston 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 166 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Grasston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Grasston sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 27, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Grasston?
The federal record around Grasston is a meaningful one — 216 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (99), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Grasston?
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 Grasston's scale — its 4a band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Grasston'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 Grasston’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Grasston's own scale — its own ~166-day season between 28°F freezes, the 597 acres it covers and 216 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Grasston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Grasston's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 11 and the ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 216 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Grasston, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Grasston's boundary and the 597 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Grasston'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 Grasston's 597 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kanabec County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kanabec 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 Kanabec County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Grasston's 597 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Grasston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 597 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Grasston-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaGrasston sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides