Nassau, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Nassau, 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 Nassau 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 Nassau — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Nassau — the short answer
Nassau, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 102 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- 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 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 102 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 Nassau's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nassau's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nassau
Each reading below is measured for Nassau itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNassau runs about 173 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
MeasuredNassau 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 Nassau is in
Nassau sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Nassau's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Lac qui Parle County is mostly Western Corn Belt Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Nassau
Every plant below cleared Nassau's own zone 4b and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nassau?
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 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Nassau
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nassau. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 119N46W35DAA 01 WohlersNitrate · 3.3 mi
- DOUG WOLLSCHLAGERToxics Release Inventory · 3.8 mi
- Wildung ImplementUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- FITZPATRICK TRACTOR REPAIRBrownfields · 4.3 mi
- 118N48W12DDDDNitrate · 4.3 mi
- 119N48W24AAAA (2)Nitrate · 4.6 mi
- HENRICH & SONS INC - BELLINGHAMBrownfields · 4.8 mi
- 524162Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- GCC-BELLINGHAMToxics Release Inventory · 4.8 mi
- 124N46W31CBD 01 James AtheyNitrate · 5.0 mi
- Former Marietta Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- Bruces 66Underground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nassau'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 Nassau.
Total Sites
47
within ~10 miles of Nassau
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nassau
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nassau
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nassau, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Nassau — Nitrate (30 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Nassau
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 Nassau average
Your land is one point inside Nassau
Everything above resolves to Nassau as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 102 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 Nassau Average
Nassau Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Nassau
- ●One soil character for all of Nassau
- ●Frost dates read at Nassau's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nassau's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nassau
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nassau, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nassau averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nassau — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nassau average
How we know this about Nassau
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 Nassau’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 Nassau
When does frost risk typically end in Nassau?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nassau 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 Nassau?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nassau 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 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nassau?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nassau sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Sep 28, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nassau?
The federal record around Nassau is light — 47 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (30), the nearest Nitrate record about 3.3 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 Nassau?
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 Nassau's scale — its 4b band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nassau'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 Nassau’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Nassau's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 102 acres it covers and 47 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nassau's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Nassau's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 12 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 47 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nassau, the closest Nitrate record about 3.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nassau's boundary and the 102 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Nassau sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Nassau's 102 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lac qui Parle County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lac qui Parle 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 Lac qui Parle County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nassau's 102 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nassau you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 102 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 3.3 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 Nassau-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaNassau sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides