Hillman, 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 Hillman, 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 Hillman 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 Hillman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hillman — the short answer
Hillman, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 398 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 398 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 Hillman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hillman's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hillman
Each reading below is measured for Hillman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHillman 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
MeasuredHillman 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 Hillman is in
Hillman sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Hillman's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Morrison County is mostly North Central Hardwood Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Hillman
Every plant below cleared Hillman'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 Hillman?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 Hillman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hillman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 041N28W26CCB 01 HansmannNitrate · 1.9 mi
- Holy Family ChurchUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- Gotvald ImplementUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- Jrs GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 040N28W17ADA 01Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- J&d ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- MNPCAP10675Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- 042N28W34ABD 01 0000125688Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- 042N28W35DBA 01 0000224507Nitrate · 5.5 mi
- TERRY & STEPHEN ATHMAN FARMCAFO · 6.0 mi
- Meadow Creek Farms IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.1 mi
- GOTVALD IMPLEMENTBrownfields · 7.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hillman'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 Hillman.
Total Sites
57
within ~10 miles of Hillman
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hillman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hillman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hillman, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Hillman. 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 Hillman
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 Hillman average
Your land is one point inside Hillman
Everything above resolves to Hillman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 398 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 Hillman Average
Hillman Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Hillman
- ●One soil character for all of Hillman
- ●Frost dates read at Hillman's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hillman's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hillman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hillman, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hillman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hillman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hillman average
How we know this about Hillman
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 Hillman’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 Hillman
When does frost risk typically end in Hillman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hillman typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Hillman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hillman typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hillman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hillman sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Sep 28, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hillman?
The federal record around Hillman shows 57 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (30), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.9 miles 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 Hillman?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hillman's scale — its 4a band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hillman'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 Hillman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hillman's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 398 acres it covers and 57 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hillman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hillman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 12 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 57 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hillman, the closest Nitrate record about 1.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hillman's boundary and the 398 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Hillman sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hillman's 398 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Morrison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Morrison 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 Morrison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hillman's 398 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hillman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 398 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.9 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 Hillman-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaHillman sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.