Lake George, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lake George, 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 George 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 George — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lake George — the short answer
Lake George, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 George's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake George's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake George
Each reading below is measured for Lake George itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLake George runs about 157 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 George 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 George is in
Lake George sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Lake George's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hubbard County.
What Grows in Lake George
Every plant below cleared Lake George's own zone 3b and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake George?
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 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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 Lake George
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake George. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KAHLSTORF LUMBER CO INCBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- Country Tyme Store & CafeUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Woodland StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- 472891Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- 463109Nitrate · 4.9 mi
- Borde Dulac LodgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- Benedict StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- Eagle Beach ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- Dept Of Natural Resources-ForestryUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- GLADEN CONSTRUCTION INCBrownfields · 6.5 mi
- 142N34W26DBB 01 C WildernesNitrate · 6.6 mi
- 444537Nitrate · 6.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake George'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 George.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake George
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake George
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake George, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 64 sites within ~10 miles of Lake George. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Lake George
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 George average
Your land is one point inside Lake George
Everything above resolves to Lake George as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 town 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 George Average
Lake George Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Lake George
- ●One soil character for all of Lake George
- ●Frost dates read at Lake George's scale: May 4 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake George's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake George
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake George, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake George averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake George — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake George average
How we know this about Lake George
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Lake George’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 George
When does frost risk typically end in Lake George?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake George typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Lake George?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake George typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake George?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake George sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 24, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake George?
The federal record around Lake George shows 84 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (64), the nearest Brownfields record about 2.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Lake George?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lake George's scale — its 3b band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake George'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 George’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lake George's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,246 acres it covers and 84 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake George's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lake George's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 8 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 84 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake George, the closest Brownfields record about 2.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake George's boundary and the 3,246 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake George's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lake George's 3,246 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hubbard County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hubbard 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 Hubbard County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake George's 3,246 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake George you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,246 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 2.2 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 George-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaLake George sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides