Johnson, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Johnson, 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 Johnson 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 Johnson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Johnson — the short answer
Johnson, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 198 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- 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
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 198 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 Johnson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Johnson's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Johnson
Each reading below is measured for Johnson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredJohnson runs about 173 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
MeasuredJohnson 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 Johnson is in
Johnson sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Johnson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Big Stone County.
What Grows in Johnson
Every plant below cleared Johnson's own zone 4b and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Johnson?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (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. 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 Johnson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Johnson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 124N45W09ADD 01 Ervin MauchNitrate · 0.6 mi
- 174416Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- Big Stone County Highway DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Dons Union 76/pullis OilUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Formerly Skoog Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Country CornerUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- 112872Nitrate · 4.7 mi
- GREAT RIVER ENERGY - GRACEVILLE SUBSTATIONBrownfields · 5.7 mi
- ISD 771 Chokio-Alberta SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- ISD 771 CHOKIO ALBERTA SCHOOL BUS GARAGEBrownfields · 5.8 mi
- STEVE'S BODY SHOPBrownfields · 5.8 mi
- TOM ARENS FARMCAFO · 6.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Johnson'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 Johnson.
Total Sites
46
within ~10 miles of Johnson
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
6 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Johnson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Johnson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Johnson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Johnson — CAFO (6 sites) and Nitrate (14 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Johnson
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 Johnson average
Your land is one point inside Johnson
Everything above resolves to Johnson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 198 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 Johnson Average
Johnson Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Johnson
- ●One soil character for all of Johnson
- ●Frost dates read at Johnson's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Johnson's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Johnson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Johnson, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Johnson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Johnson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Johnson average
How we know this about Johnson
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 Johnson’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 Johnson
When does frost risk typically end in Johnson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Johnson typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Johnson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Johnson 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 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Johnson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Johnson sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Sep 27, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Johnson?
The federal record around Johnson is light — 46 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (17), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Johnson?
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 Johnson's scale — its 4b band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Johnson'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 Johnson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Johnson's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 198 acres it covers and 46 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Johnson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Johnson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 11 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 46 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Johnson, the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Johnson's boundary and the 198 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Johnson's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Johnson's 198 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Big Stone County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Big Stone 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 Big Stone County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Johnson's 198 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Johnson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 198 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 Johnson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaJohnson sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides