Ihlen, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Ihlen, 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 Ihlen 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 Ihlen — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ihlen — the short answer
Ihlen, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 239 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- 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
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 239 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 Ihlen's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ihlen's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ihlen
Each reading below is measured for Ihlen itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredIhlen runs about 171 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
MeasuredIhlen 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 Ihlen is in
Ihlen sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ihlen's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Pipestone County is mostly Northern Glaciated Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Ihlen
Every plant below cleared Ihlen's own zone 4b and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ihlen?
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 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (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. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Ihlen
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ihlen. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 105N46W09DDD 01 Ihlen 1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- JOHNSON FARMS - PIPESTONECAFO · 1.8 mi
- FACCENDIERE- WHEATFIELD FINISCAFO · 2.3 mi
- SWEET FINISHERSCAFO · 2.5 mi
- MARCES SITECAFO · 3.1 mi
- PATER DAIRY INCCAFO · 3.3 mi
- ERIK BAUSTIANCAFO · 3.6 mi
- FACCENDIERE - BMBCAFO · 3.6 mi
- CJ SWINE LLCCAFO · 3.7 mi
- RYAN WEINKAUFCAFO · 4.4 mi
- Gte #1821050Underground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- Bell's ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ihlen'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 Ihlen.
Total Sites
118
within ~10 miles of Ihlen
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ihlen
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ihlen
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ihlen, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 27 sites within ~10 miles of Ihlen. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Ihlen
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 Ihlen average
Your land is one point inside Ihlen
Everything above resolves to Ihlen as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 239 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 Ihlen Average
Ihlen Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Ihlen
- ●One soil character for all of Ihlen
- ●Frost dates read at Ihlen's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ihlen's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ihlen
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ihlen, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ihlen averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ihlen — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ihlen average
How we know this about Ihlen
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 Ihlen’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 Ihlen
When does frost risk typically end in Ihlen?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ihlen typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Ihlen?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ihlen 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 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ihlen?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ihlen sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Sep 27, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ihlen?
The federal record around Ihlen is a meaningful one — 118 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (45), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Ihlen?
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 Ihlen's scale — its 4b band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ihlen'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 Ihlen’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ihlen's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 239 acres it covers and 118 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ihlen's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ihlen's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 11 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 118 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ihlen, the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ihlen's boundary and the 239 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Ihlen sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ihlen's 239 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pipestone County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pipestone 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 Pipestone County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ihlen's 239 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ihlen you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 239 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Ihlen-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaIhlen sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.