Renville, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Renville, 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 Renville 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 Renville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Renville — the short answer
Renville, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 182 days between hard freezes, across 845 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~182
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 845 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 Renville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Renville's 182-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Renville
Each reading below is measured for Renville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRenville runs about 182 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
MeasuredRenville 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 Renville is in
Renville sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Renville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Renville County.
What Grows in Renville
Every plant below cleared Renville's own zone 4b and its 182-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Renville?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Renville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Renville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DOLLAR GENERAL 18317Brownfields · 650 ft
- Casey's General Store #3729Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- GOLDEN OVALToxics Release Inventory · 1500 ft
- GOLDEN OVALCAFO · 1500 ft
- GOLDEN OVALBrownfields · 1500 ft
- Lang SamuelUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Renville Farmers Coop Oil CenexUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Main StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- RENVILLE CO STAR FARMER NEWSBrownfields · 2000 ft
- H & L MOTORS INCBrownfields · 2100 ft
- DEAN C LINDQUIST DDS PABrownfields · 2100 ft
- RENVILLE HEALTH SERVICESBrownfields · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Renville'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 Renville.
Total Sites
147
within ~10 miles of Renville
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Renville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Renville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Renville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Renville — CAFO (13 sites) and Nitrate (94 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Renville
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 Renville average
Your land is one point inside Renville
Everything above resolves to Renville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 845 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 Renville Average
Renville Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Renville
- ●One soil character for all of Renville
- ●Frost dates read at Renville's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Renville's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Renville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Renville, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Renville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Renville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Renville average
How we know this about Renville
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 Renville’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 Renville
When does frost risk typically end in Renville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Renville typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Renville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Renville typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 182 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Renville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Renville sees about 182 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 3, about 147 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Renville?
The federal record around Renville shows 147 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (94), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Renville?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Renville's scale — its 4b band and its 182-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Renville'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 Renville’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Renville's own scale — its own ~182-day season between 28°F freezes, the 845 acres it covers and 147 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Renville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Renville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 17 and the ~182-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 147 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Renville, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Renville's boundary and the 845 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~182-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Renville's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Renville's 845 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Renville County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Renville 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 Renville County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Renville's 845 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Renville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 845 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Renville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaRenville sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides