Kelliher, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Kelliher, 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 Kelliher 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 Kelliher — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Kelliher — the short answer
Kelliher, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 153 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~153
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 Kelliher's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kelliher's 153-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kelliher
Each reading below is measured for Kelliher itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKelliher runs about 153 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
MeasuredKelliher 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 Kelliher is in
Kelliher sits in the Northern Minnesota Wetlands — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Kelliher's own centroid rather than borrowed from Beltrami County.
What Grows in Kelliher
Every plant below cleared Kelliher's own zone 3b and its 153-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Kelliher?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — 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 Kelliher
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kelliher. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- School Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Village One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- ISD 363 SOUTH KOOCHCHING RAINBrownfields · 6.2 mi
- 470783Nitrate · 6.8 mi
- Ericksons GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- Gateway Mini MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- MNDOT NORTHOME TSBrownfields · 8.6 mi
- BELTRAMI HHW COLLECTION PROGRAM SATELLITEBrownfields · 8.7 mi
- Fisher Petroleum IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- SCENIC RIVERS HEALTH SERVICES NORTHOMEBrownfields · 9.0 mi
- Northome Healthcare CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.1 mi
- 493051Nitrate · 9.3 mi
2 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kelliher'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 Kelliher.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kelliher
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kelliher
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Kelliher
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 Kelliher average
Your land is one point inside Kelliher
Everything above resolves to Kelliher 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 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 Kelliher Average
Kelliher Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Kelliher
- ●One soil character for all of Kelliher
- ●Frost dates read at Kelliher's scale: May 5 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kelliher's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kelliher
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kelliher, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kelliher averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kelliher — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kelliher average
How we know this about Kelliher
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 Kelliher’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 Kelliher
When does frost risk typically end in Kelliher?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kelliher typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Kelliher?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kelliher typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 153 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kelliher?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kelliher sees about 153 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 21, about 118 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kelliher?
The federal record around Kelliher is light — 17 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (6), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Kelliher?
From about Sep 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Kelliher's scale — its 3b band and its 153-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kelliher'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 Kelliher’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Kelliher's own scale — its own ~153-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,408 acres it covers and 17 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kelliher's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kelliher's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 5 and the ~153-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 17 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kelliher, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kelliher's boundary and the 1,408 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~153-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Kelliher's own centroid, the Northern Minnesota WetlandsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Kelliher's 1,408 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Beltrami County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Beltrami 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 Beltrami County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kelliher's 1,408 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kelliher you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,408 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Kelliher-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaKelliher sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.