Kiester, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Kiester, 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 Kiester 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 Kiester — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kiester — the short answer
Kiester, Minnesota: USDA zone 5a, about 182 days between hard freezes, across 274 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~182
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 274 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 Kiester's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kiester's 182-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kiester
Each reading below is measured for Kiester itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKiester runs about 182 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
MeasuredKiester 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 Kiester is in
Kiester sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Kiester's own centroid rather than borrowed from Faribault County.
What Grows in Kiester
Every plant below cleared Kiester's own zone 5a and its 182-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Kiester?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — 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 Kiester
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kiester. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KIESTER IMPLEMENT INCBrownfields · 300 ft
- Duane's FelcoUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- MANKATO IMPLEMENT - KIESTERBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Faribault Co Garage - KiesterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Food N Fuel C43Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Tanks & TummiesUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- City GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Grain Land CoopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- B J ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Bollmann Oil IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 101N41W23CDC 01 Louis RustNitrate · 0.9 mi
- DANIEL KLUENDER 11-004-1441CAFO · 3.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kiester'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 Kiester.
Total Sites
47
within ~10 miles of Kiester
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kiester
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kiester
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kiester, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Kiester. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Kiester
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 Kiester average
Your land is one point inside Kiester
Everything above resolves to Kiester as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 274 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 Kiester Average
Kiester Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Kiester
- ●One soil character for all of Kiester
- ●Frost dates read at Kiester's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kiester's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kiester
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kiester, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kiester averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kiester — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kiester average
How we know this about Kiester
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 Kiester’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 Kiester
When does frost risk typically end in Kiester?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kiester typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Kiester?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kiester typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 182 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kiester?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kiester sees about 182 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 3, about 147 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kiester?
The federal record around Kiester is light — 47 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (20), 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 Kiester?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Kiester's scale — its 5a band and its 182-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kiester'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 Kiester’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Kiester's own scale — its own ~182-day season between 28°F freezes, the 274 acres it covers and 47 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kiester's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kiester's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 17 and the ~182-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 47 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kiester, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kiester's boundary and the 274 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~182-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Kiester'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 Kiester's 274 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Faribault County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Faribault 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 Faribault County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kiester's 274 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kiester you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 274 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 Kiester-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaKiester sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.