Jasper, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Jasper, 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 Jasper 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 Jasper — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Jasper — the short answer
Jasper, Minnesota: USDA zone 5a, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 652 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- 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 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 652 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 5a is Jasper's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jasper's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Jasper
Each reading below is measured for Jasper itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredJasper runs about 170 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
MeasuredJasper sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Jasper is in
Jasper sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Jasper's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rock County.
What Grows in Jasper
Every plant below cleared Jasper's own zone 5a and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Jasper?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 10 — 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 Jasper
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Jasper. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- IKES REPAIRBrownfields · 300 ft
- STEELWERX LLCBrownfields · 450 ft
- Bassett Texaco, MW-8Nitrate · 450 ft
- 104N46W06ABA 01 Jasper 3Nitrate · 650 ft
- L G EVERIST INCBrownfields · 650 ft
- HOUG'S SERVICEBrownfields · 850 ft
- Jasper Mini MallUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Gte #1821050Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Ripco on Highway 23Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Bell's ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Hougs Service/ Cenex Coop-gas StaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- HIGH POINTE - RED ROCK FINISHERSCAFO · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jasper'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 Jasper.
Total Sites
49
within ~10 miles of Jasper
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
24 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Jasper
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Jasper
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jasper, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 24 sites within ~10 miles of Jasper. 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 Jasper
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 Jasper average
Your land is one point inside Jasper
Everything above resolves to Jasper as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 652 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 Jasper Average
Jasper Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Jasper
- ●One soil character for all of Jasper
- ●Frost dates read at Jasper's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jasper's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Jasper
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jasper, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jasper averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jasper — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jasper average
How we know this about Jasper
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 Jasper’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 Jasper
When does frost risk typically end in Jasper?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jasper 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 Jasper?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Jasper typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Jasper?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jasper sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Sep 26, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Jasper?
The federal record around Jasper is light — 49 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly CAFO entries (24), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Jasper?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Jasper's scale — its 5a band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jasper'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 Jasper’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Jasper's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 652 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jasper's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Jasper's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 10 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Jasper, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Jasper's boundary and the 652 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Jasper's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Jasper's 652 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rock County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rock 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 Rock County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jasper's 652 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Jasper you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 652 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Jasper-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaJasper sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.