Nashua, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Nashua, 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 Nashua 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 Nashua — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nashua — the short answer
Nashua, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 172 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~172
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 4a is Nashua's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nashua's 172-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nashua
Each reading below is measured for Nashua itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNashua runs about 172 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
MeasuredNashua sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Nashua is in
Nashua sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Nashua's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wilkin County.
What Grows in Nashua
Every plant below cleared Nashua's own zone 4a and its 172-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nashua?
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 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Nashua
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nashua. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 130N45W25CBB 01 Fred HasseNitrate · 1.1 mi
- Microwave Radio StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- NORTH OTTAWA DAIRYCAFO · 3.1 mi
- 130N44W32ADD 01 A SpencerNitrate · 3.8 mi
- SOUTH RABBIT RUNCAFO · 4.3 mi
- MIDDLE RABBIT RUNCAFO · 4.8 mi
- NORTH RABBIT RUNCAFO · 5.6 mi
- CAMPBELLCAFO · 5.7 mi
- Culp AustinUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- Campbell Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- DUPREE PORKCAFO · 6.1 mi
- 130N46W01CBD 01 Campbell 2Nitrate · 6.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nashua'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 Nashua.
Total Sites
38
within ~10 miles of Nashua
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
9 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nashua
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nashua
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nashua, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Nashua — CAFO (9 sites) and Nitrate (20 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Nashua
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 Nashua average
Your land is one point inside Nashua
Everything above resolves to Nashua as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Nashua Average
Nashua Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Nashua
- ●One soil character for all of Nashua
- ●Frost dates read at Nashua's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nashua's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nashua
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nashua, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nashua averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nashua — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nashua average
How we know this about Nashua
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 Nashua’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 Nashua
When does frost risk typically end in Nashua?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nashua typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Nashua?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nashua typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 172 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nashua?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nashua sees about 172 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Sep 27, about 137 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nashua?
The federal record around Nashua is light — 38 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (20), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.1 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 Nashua?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Nashua's scale — its 4a band and its 172-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nashua'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 Nashua’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Nashua's own scale — its own ~172-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,248 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nashua's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Nashua's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 11 and the ~172-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nashua, the closest Nitrate record about 1.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nashua's boundary and the 2,248 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~172-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Nashua's own centroid, the Lake Agassiz PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nashua's 2,248 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wilkin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wilkin 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 Wilkin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nashua's 2,248 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nashua you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,248 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.1 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 Nashua-wide figureread your own land →
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