Nelson, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Nelson, 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 Nelson 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 Nelson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Nelson — the short answer
Nelson, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 177 days between hard freezes, across 423 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 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~177
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 423 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 Nelson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nelson's 177-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Nelson
Each reading below is measured for Nelson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNelson runs about 177 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
MeasuredNelson 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 Nelson is in
Nelson sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Nelson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Douglas County.
What Grows in Nelson
Every plant below cleared Nelson's own zone 4b and its 177-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Nelson?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 16 — 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 Nelson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Nelson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Nelson Garage IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- NELSON GARAGE INCBrownfields · 750 ft
- Nelson Coop Creamery AssnUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- M&C CUSTOM AUTO & DETAILINGBrownfields · 1600 ft
- CLASSIC AUTO BODY & SALESBrownfields · 2000 ft
- Jills Gas & Grocery IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- 469492Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- RRV AUTO LLC DBA BUDGET AUTOBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- MIDWEST MACHINERYBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- MAYO HEALTH SYSTEM - ST PETER CLINIC SUNRISEBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- ALEXANDRIA PRECISION MACHININGBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- UPS - ALEXANDRIABrownfields · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Nelson'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 Nelson.
Total Sites
338
within ~10 miles of Nelson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Nelson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Nelson
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Nelson
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 Nelson average
Your land is one point inside Nelson
Everything above resolves to Nelson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 423 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 Nelson Average
Nelson Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Nelson
- ●One soil character for all of Nelson
- ●Frost dates read at Nelson's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Nelson's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Nelson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Nelson, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Nelson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nelson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nelson average
How we know this about Nelson
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 Nelson’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 Nelson
When does frost risk typically end in Nelson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Nelson 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 Nelson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Nelson typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 177 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Nelson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Nelson sees about 177 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 2, about 142 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Nelson?
The federal record around Nelson is a meaningful one — 338 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (157), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Nelson?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Nelson's scale — its 4b band and its 177-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nelson'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 Nelson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Nelson's own scale — its own ~177-day season between 28°F freezes, the 423 acres it covers and 338 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Nelson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Nelson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 16 and the ~177-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 338 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Nelson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Nelson's boundary and the 423 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~177-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Nelson'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 Nelson's 423 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Douglas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Douglas 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 Douglas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Nelson's 423 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Nelson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 423 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Nelson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaNelson sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides