Lake Bronson, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lake Bronson, 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 Lake Bronson 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 Lake Bronson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lake Bronson — the short answer
Lake Bronson, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 154 days between hard freezes, across 339 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 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~154
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 339 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 Lake Bronson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Bronson's 154-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Bronson
Each reading below is measured for Lake Bronson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLake Bronson runs about 154 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
MeasuredLake Bronson 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 Lake Bronson is in
Lake Bronson sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Lake Bronson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kittson County.
What Grows in Lake Bronson
Every plant below cleared Lake Bronson's own zone 3b and its 154-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Bronson?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Lake Bronson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Bronson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Lake Bronson Farmers Union Oil C-StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Lake Bronson State ParkUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 161N46W30CBD 01 Lk BronsonNitrate · 1500 ft
- 161N46W30CCD 01 Lk BronsonNitrate · 1.2 mi
- 160N46W05CBA 02 BillingsNitrate · 2.4 mi
- 161N46W28ABD 01 H N LarsonNitrate · 2.6 mi
- 161N46W33DCA 03 USGS-LbrsnNitrate · 2.8 mi
- AB27 161N46W33ADADBB01 0000215269Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- Lake Bronson StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- AB26 160N46W08DDBDAB01 0000421618Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 160N46W20ABA 01 USGS-HalmaNitrate · 4.8 mi
- 161N47W09DCC 01 SjostrandNitrate · 4.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Bronson'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 Lake Bronson.
Total Sites
48
within ~10 miles of Lake Bronson
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
34 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Bronson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake Bronson, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 34 sites within ~10 miles of Lake Bronson. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Lake Bronson
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 Lake Bronson average
Your land is one point inside Lake Bronson
Everything above resolves to Lake Bronson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 339 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 Lake Bronson Average
Lake Bronson Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Lake Bronson
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Bronson
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Bronson's scale: May 5 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Bronson's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Bronson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Bronson, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Bronson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Bronson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Bronson average
How we know this about Lake Bronson
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 Lake Bronson’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 Lake Bronson
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Bronson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Bronson 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 Lake Bronson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Bronson typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 154 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Bronson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Bronson sees about 154 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 22, about 119 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Bronson?
The federal record around Lake Bronson is light — 48 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (34), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Lake Bronson?
From about Sep 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake Bronson's scale — its 3b band and its 154-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Bronson'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 Lake Bronson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lake Bronson's own scale — its own ~154-day season between 28°F freezes, the 339 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Bronson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lake Bronson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 6 and the ~154-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Bronson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Bronson's boundary and the 339 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~154-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake Bronson's own centroid, the Lake Agassiz PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake Bronson's 339 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kittson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kittson 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 Kittson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Bronson's 339 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Bronson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 339 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Lake Bronson-wide figureread your own land →
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