McKinley, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in McKinley, 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 McKinley 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 McKinley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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McKinley — the short answer
McKinley, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 140 days between hard freezes, across 913 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~140
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 913 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 McKinley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against McKinley's 140-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in McKinley
Each reading below is measured for McKinley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMcKinley runs about 140 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMcKinley 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 McKinley is in
McKinley sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at McKinley's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Louis County.
What Grows in McKinley
Every plant below cleared McKinley's own zone 3b and its 140-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in McKinley?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near McKinley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of McKinley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 058N16W08DDD 01 MckinleyNitrate · 0.8 mi
- Corner ExpressUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- S.P. 2714-145 MN DEPT. OF TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- MESABI BITUMINOUS INC - SCHLEY MINE BBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- GILBERT CITY OF WWTPBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- MICHAELS AUTO SALESBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- Holiday Stationstore #141Underground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- FRANKS TIRE SERVICEBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- BIWABIK TOWNSHIPBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- Biwabik TownshipUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Gilbert Get-N-GoUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- NORTHERN LIGHTS DENTAL CAREBrownfields · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from McKinley'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 McKinley.
Total Sites
368
within ~10 miles of McKinley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of McKinley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of McKinley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around McKinley, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of McKinley — Superfund (6 sites) and Brownfields (185 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in McKinley
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 McKinley average
Your land is one point inside McKinley
Everything above resolves to McKinley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 913 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 McKinley Average
McKinley Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across McKinley
- ●One soil character for all of McKinley
- ●Frost dates read at McKinley's scale: May 11 to Sep 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not McKinley's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in McKinley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in McKinley, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that McKinley averages can't show:
We read public map data around McKinley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the McKinley average
How we know this about McKinley
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 McKinley’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 McKinley
When does frost risk typically end in McKinley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in McKinley typically lands around May 11, 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 Jun 1.
When is the first frost in McKinley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in McKinley typically arrives around Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 14, so the watching starts about Aug 29 — about 140 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in McKinley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, McKinley sees about 140 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 14, about 105 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in McKinley?
The federal record around McKinley is a meaningful one — 368 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (185), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 gardeners stretch the season in McKinley?
With about 140 frost-free days between hard freezes, McKinley rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 168 to 196 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 11 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at McKinley's scale — its 3b band and its 140-day season. Your yard writes its own version of McKinley'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 McKinley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at McKinley's own scale — its own ~140-day season between 28°F freezes, the 913 acres it covers and 368 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- McKinley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- McKinley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Sep 28 and the ~140-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 368 documented contamination sites on the federal record near McKinley, the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- McKinley's boundary and the 913 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~140-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at McKinley'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 McKinley's 913 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Louis County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Louis 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 St. Louis County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among McKinley's 913 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of McKinley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 913 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 McKinley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaMcKinley sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.