Ogema, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ogema, 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 Ogema 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 Ogema — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ogema — the short answer
Ogema, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 742 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- 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
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 742 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 Ogema's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ogema's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ogema
Each reading below is measured for Ogema itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOgema runs about 166 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
MeasuredOgema 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 Ogema is in
Ogema sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ogema's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Becker County is mostly Northern Lakes and Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Ogema
Every plant below cleared Ogema's own zone 4a and its 166-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ogema?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (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. 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 Ogema
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ogema. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WAUBUN OGEMA SCHOOL DISTRICT 435 OGEMABrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Strawberry Lake StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- M & W FoodsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Former Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- M & W Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Wood Land Trails ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- Berrys PlaceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- 461130Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- 142N42W26CDA 01Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- Chief's PlaceUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- Rainbow ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- Ez-One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ogema'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 Ogema.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ogema
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ogema, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Ogema. 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 Ogema
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 Ogema average
Your land is one point inside Ogema
Everything above resolves to Ogema as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 742 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 Ogema Average
Ogema Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Ogema
- ●One soil character for all of Ogema
- ●Frost dates read at Ogema's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ogema's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ogema
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ogema, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ogema averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ogema — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ogema average
How we know this about Ogema
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 Ogema’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 Ogema
When does frost risk typically end in Ogema?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ogema typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Ogema?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ogema 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 166 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ogema?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ogema sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 27, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ogema?
The federal record around Ogema is light — 41 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (19), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Ogema?
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 Ogema's scale — its 4a band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ogema'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 Ogema’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ogema's own scale — its own ~166-day season between 28°F freezes, the 742 acres it covers and 41 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ogema's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ogema's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 11 and the ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 41 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ogema, the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ogema's boundary and the 742 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Ogema sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ogema's 742 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Becker County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Becker 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 Becker County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ogema's 742 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ogema you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 742 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Ogema-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaOgema sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides