Mayer, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Mayer, 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 Mayer 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 Mayer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mayer — the short answer
Mayer, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 879 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 879 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 4b is Mayer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mayer's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mayer
Each reading below is measured for Mayer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMayer runs about 186 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
MeasuredMayer sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Mayer is in
Mayer sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mayer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Carver County.
What Grows in Mayer
Every plant below cleared Mayer's own zone 4b and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mayer?
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 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — 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 Mayer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mayer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COLLISION SPECIALTIESBrownfields · 2100 ft
- D-N-R PRINTING - MAYERBrownfields · 2200 ft
- R & V SERVICESBrownfields · 2500 ft
- BOB'S REPAIR - MAYERBrownfields · 2600 ft
- Casey's General Store #3591Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BRADLEYS COLLISION INCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- 639219Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- HOLLYWOOD AUTO PARTSBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- 719993Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- HANSON'S PAINTING & REPAIRS, INCBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- Schmidty's MayerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- ANDERSENS POLISHING & BUFFINGBrownfields · 1.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mayer'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 Mayer.
Total Sites
521
within ~10 miles of Mayer
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mayer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mayer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mayer, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 283 sites within ~10 miles of Mayer. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Mayer
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 Mayer average
Your land is one point inside Mayer
Everything above resolves to Mayer as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 879 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 Mayer Average
Mayer Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Mayer
- ●One soil character for all of Mayer
- ●Frost dates read at Mayer's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mayer's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mayer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mayer, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mayer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mayer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mayer average
How we know this about Mayer
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 Mayer’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 Mayer
When does frost risk typically end in Mayer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mayer typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Mayer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mayer typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mayer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mayer sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 6, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mayer?
The federal record around Mayer is a meaningful one — 521 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (283), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Mayer?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mayer's scale — its 4b band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mayer'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 Mayer’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mayer's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 879 acres it covers and 521 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mayer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mayer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 20 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 521 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mayer, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mayer's boundary and the 879 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mayer's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mayer's 879 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Carver County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Carver 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 Carver County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mayer's 879 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mayer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 879 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Mayer-wide figureread your own land →
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