Middle River, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Middle River, 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 Middle River 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 Middle River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Middle River — the short answer
Middle River, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 318 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- 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
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 318 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 Middle River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Middle River's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Middle River
Each reading below is measured for Middle River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMiddle River 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
MeasuredMiddle River 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 Middle River is in
Middle River sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Middle River's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marshall County.
What Grows in Middle River
Every plant below cleared Middle River'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 Middle River?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (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. 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 Middle River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Middle River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 157N43W11BCD 01 0000219634Nitrate · 450 ft
- Cooperative Oil AssociationUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- RS24 157N43W03CCCD 01 0000430063Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- 158N43W22CDD 01 L VoecksNitrate · 3.6 mi
- 491960Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- Grams ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- Schenkey IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- Agassiz National Wildlife RefugeUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- Judy C Kaml FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- WAAGE FARMSCAFO · 7.3 mi
- 108004Nitrate · 8.4 mi
- 157N44W21AAA 01 Ekman BrosNitrate · 8.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Middle River'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 Middle River.
Total Sites
34
within ~10 miles of Middle River
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Middle River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Middle River
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Middle River, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Middle River. 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 Middle River
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 Middle River average
Your land is one point inside Middle River
Everything above resolves to Middle River as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 318 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 Middle River Average
Middle River Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Middle River
- ●One soil character for all of Middle River
- ●Frost dates read at Middle River's scale: May 2 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Middle River's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Middle River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Middle River, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Middle River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Middle River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Middle River average
How we know this about Middle River
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 Middle River’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 Middle River
When does frost risk typically end in Middle River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Middle River typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Middle River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Middle River 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 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Middle River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Middle River sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 22, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Middle River?
The federal record around Middle River is light — 34 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (18), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Middle River?
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 Middle River's scale — its 3b band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Middle River'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 Middle River’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Middle River's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 318 acres it covers and 34 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Middle River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Middle River's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 6 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 34 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Middle River, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Middle River's boundary and the 318 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 Middle River's own centroid, the Lake Agassiz PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Middle River's 318 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marshall County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marshall 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 Marshall County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Middle River's 318 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Middle River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 318 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Middle River-wide figureread your own land →
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