Hill City, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hill City, 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 Hill City 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 Hill City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hill City — the short answer
Hill City, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 154 days between hard freezes, across 713 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~154
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 713 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 Hill City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hill City's 154-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hill City
Each reading below is measured for Hill City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHill City runs about 154 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
MeasuredHill City 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 Hill City is in
Hill City sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Hill City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Aitkin County.
What Grows in Hill City
Every plant below cleared Hill City's own zone 4a and its 154-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hill City?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — 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 Hill City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hill City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 052N26W14DDB 01Nitrate · 1400 ft
- HILLTOP SPORTSBrownfields · 1500 ft
- Aitkin County Highway Department Dist 5Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- 052N26W14DAC 01 Hill City 0000603694Nitrate · 1900 ft
- Sunny'sUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- LAKELAND TRAILERS INCBrownfields · 2300 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL 20648Brownfields · 2400 ft
- LEMCO LLCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Roadside MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ISD 002 - HILL CITY SCHOOLBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- ENBRIDGE ENERGY - HILL CITY PBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- NORTHLAND HYDRAULIC SERVICEBrownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hill City'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 Hill City.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hill City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hill City
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 Hill City
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 Hill City average
Your land is one point inside Hill City
Everything above resolves to Hill City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 713 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 Hill City Average
Hill City Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Hill City
- ●One soil character for all of Hill City
- ●Frost dates read at Hill City's scale: May 3 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hill City's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hill City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hill City, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hill City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hill City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hill City average
How we know this about Hill City
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 Hill City’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 Hill City
When does frost risk typically end in Hill City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hill City typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Hill City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hill City typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 154 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hill City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hill City sees about 154 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 20, about 119 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hill City?
The federal record around Hill City is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (13), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Hill City?
From about Sep 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hill City's scale — its 4a band and its 154-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hill City'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 Hill City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hill City's own scale — its own ~154-day season between 28°F freezes, the 713 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hill City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hill City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 4 and the ~154-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hill City, the closest Nitrate record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hill City's boundary and the 713 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~154-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hill City'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 Hill City's 713 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Aitkin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Aitkin 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 Aitkin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hill City's 713 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hill City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 713 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 Hill City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaHill City sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides