Pillager, 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.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pillager, 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 Pillager 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 Pillager — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pillager — the short answer
Pillager, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 164 days between hard freezes, across 543 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~164
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 543 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 Pillager's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pillager's 164-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pillager
Each reading below is measured for Pillager itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPillager runs about 164 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
MeasuredPillager 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 Pillager is in
Pillager sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Pillager's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cass County.
What Grows in Pillager
Every plant below cleared Pillager's own zone 4a and its 164-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pillager?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — 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 Pillager
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pillager. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DOLLAR GENERAL 16370Brownfields · 950 ft
- PILLAGER COUNTRY DENTAL LLCBrownfields · 1600 ft
- PILLAGER PUBLIC SCHOOLSBrownfields · 1800 ft
- Former Cass County GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- LAKEWOOD CLINIC PILLAGERBrownfields · 2100 ft
- ESSENTIA HEALTH SAINT JOSEPH'S-PILLAGER CLINICBrownfields · 2100 ft
- LONGBELLA DRUG - PILLAGERBrownfields · 2100 ft
- MINNESOTA POWER - PILLAGER HYDROELECTRIC STATIONBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- JOE OTTO PROPERTYBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- MAGNUM RESEARCH INCBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- J&B FEEDLOTCAFO · 2.0 mi
- Dept Of Natural Resources-ForestryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pillager'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 Pillager.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pillager
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pillager
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pillager, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Pillager — CAFO (3 sites) and Nitrate (84 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Pillager
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 Pillager average
Your land is one point inside Pillager
Everything above resolves to Pillager as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 543 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 Pillager Average
Pillager Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Pillager
- ●One soil character for all of Pillager
- ●Frost dates read at Pillager's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pillager's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pillager
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pillager, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pillager averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pillager — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pillager average
How we know this about Pillager
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 Pillager’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 Pillager
When does frost risk typically end in Pillager?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pillager typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Pillager?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pillager typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 164 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pillager?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pillager sees about 164 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 26, about 129 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pillager?
The federal record around Pillager is a meaningful one — 145 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (84), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Pillager?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pillager's scale — its 4a band and its 164-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pillager'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 Pillager’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Pillager's own scale — its own ~164-day season between 28°F freezes, the 543 acres it covers and 145 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pillager's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pillager's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 10 and the ~164-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 145 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pillager, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pillager's boundary and the 543 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~164-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pillager's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pillager's 543 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cass County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cass 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 Cass County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pillager's 543 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pillager you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 543 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Pillager-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaPillager sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides