Pine River, 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.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pine River, 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 Pine River 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 Pine River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pine River — the short answer
Pine River, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 154 days between hard freezes, across 768 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~154
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 768 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 Pine River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pine River's 154-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pine River
Each reading below is measured for Pine River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPine River runs about 154 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
MeasuredPine River 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 Pine River is in
Pine River sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Pine River's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cass County.
What Grows in Pine River
Every plant below cleared Pine River's own zone 4a and its 154-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pine River?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 3 — 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 Pine River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pine River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ESSENTIA HEALTH PINE RIVER PHARMACYBrownfields · 1400 ft
- PINE RIVER AREA OFFICEBrownfields · 1400 ft
- GUARDIAN PHARMACY - GOOD SAMARITAN CARE CENTERBrownfields · 1600 ft
- Cass County Highway Maintenance ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Flategraff Wood ProductsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Pine Motor CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- ISD 2174 PINE RIVER BACKUS SCBrownfields · 2600 ft
- Family Dollar Store 11279Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Station 371Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- O'REILLY AUTO PARTS #6945Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- PINE MOTOR COBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- NAGEL BUILT CABINETSBrownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pine River'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 Pine River.
Total Sites
102
within ~10 miles of Pine River
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pine River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pine River
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Pine River
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 Pine River average
Your land is one point inside Pine River
Everything above resolves to Pine River as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 768 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 Pine River Average
Pine River Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Pine River
- ●One soil character for all of Pine River
- ●Frost dates read at Pine River's scale: May 2 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pine River's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pine River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pine River, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pine River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pine River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pine River average
How we know this about Pine River
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 Pine River’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 Pine River
When does frost risk typically end in Pine River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pine River typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Pine River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pine River typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 154 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pine River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pine River sees about 154 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 19, about 119 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pine River?
The federal record around Pine River shows 102 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (39), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Pine River?
From about Sep 3 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pine River's scale — its 4a band and its 154-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pine River'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 Pine River’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Pine River's own scale — its own ~154-day season between 28°F freezes, the 768 acres it covers and 102 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pine River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pine River's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 3 and the ~154-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 102 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pine River, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pine River's boundary and the 768 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~154-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pine River'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 Pine River's 768 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 Pine River's 768 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pine River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 768 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 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 Pine River-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaPine River sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides