Inger, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Inger, 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 Inger 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 Inger — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Inger — the short answer
Inger, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~156
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 3b is Inger's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Inger's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Inger
Each reading below is measured for Inger itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredInger runs about 156 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
MeasuredInger sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 Inger is in
Inger sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Inger's own centroid rather than borrowed from Itasca County.
What Grows in Inger
Every plant below cleared Inger's own zone 3b and its 156-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Inger?
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 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 Inger
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Inger. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Cut Foot Sioux InnUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- Max StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- 520500Nitrate · 6.5 mi
- Spring Lake StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.4 mi
- Bowstring StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.6 mi
- Squaw Lake CooperativeUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.7 mi
- Winni-b-gosh Dam PlaceUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.3 mi
- Little Turtle Lake StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.8 mi
Measured from Inger'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 Inger.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Inger
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •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 Inger
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 Inger average
Your land is one point inside Inger
Everything above resolves to Inger as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 town 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 Inger Average
Inger Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Inger
- ●One soil character for all of Inger
- ●Frost dates read at Inger's scale: May 4 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Inger's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Inger
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Inger, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Inger averages can't show:
We read public map data around Inger — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Inger average
How we know this about Inger
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Inger’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Inger
When does frost risk typically end in Inger?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Inger typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Inger?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Inger typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 156 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Inger?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Inger sees about 156 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 23, about 121 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Inger?
The federal record around Inger is light — 9 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (7), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.6 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 Inger?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Inger's scale — its 3b band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Inger'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 Inger’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Inger's own scale — its own ~156-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,201 acres it covers and 9 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Inger's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Inger's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 7 and the ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 9 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Inger, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Inger's boundary and the 1,201 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Inger'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 Inger's 1,201 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Itasca County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Itasca 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 Itasca County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Inger's 1,201 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Inger you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,201 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.6 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 Inger-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaInger sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides