Little Rock, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Little Rock, 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 Little Rock 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 Little Rock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Little Rock — the short answer
Little Rock, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 5K 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 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Little Rock's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Little Rock's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Little Rock
Each reading below is measured for Little Rock itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLittle Rock runs about 161 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
MeasuredLittle Rock 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 Little Rock is in
Little Rock sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Little Rock's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Beltrami County is mostly Northern Minnesota Wetlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Little Rock
Every plant below cleared Little Rock's own zone 3b and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Little Rock?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Little Rock
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Little Rock. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 425539Nitrate · 2100 ft
- RED LAKE TRANSFER STATIONBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- 183718Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- Red Lake FoodsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Red Lake Comprehensive Health ServicesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Beawlian's StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Big Stone Convenience StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Bureau Of Indian AffairsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Saint Marys Mission SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Red Lake Public Schools-Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Red Lake Government CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- RED LAKE HI-WAY/ROADS DEPARTMENTBrownfields · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Little Rock'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 Little Rock.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Little Rock
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Little Rock
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Little Rock, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 14 sites within ~10 miles of Little Rock. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Little Rock
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 Little Rock average
Your land is one point inside Little Rock
Everything above resolves to Little Rock as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Little Rock Average
Little Rock Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Little Rock
- ●One soil character for all of Little Rock
- ●Frost dates read at Little Rock's scale: May 4 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Little Rock's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Little Rock
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Little Rock, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Little Rock averages can't show:
We read public map data around Little Rock — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Little Rock average
How we know this about Little Rock
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 Little Rock’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 Little Rock
When does frost risk typically end in Little Rock?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Little Rock 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 Little Rock?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Little Rock typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Little Rock?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Little Rock sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 28, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Little Rock?
The federal record around Little Rock is light — 30 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (14), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Little Rock?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Little Rock's scale — its 3b band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Little Rock'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 Little Rock’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Little Rock's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,616 acres it covers and 30 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Little Rock's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Little Rock's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 12 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 30 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Little Rock, the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Little Rock's boundary and the 4,616 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Little Rock sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Little Rock's 4,616 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 Little Rock's 4,616 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Little Rock you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,616 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.4 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 Little Rock-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaLittle Rock sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides