Ronneby, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Ronneby, 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 Ronneby 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 Ronneby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ronneby — the short answer
Ronneby, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 616 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- 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 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 616 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 Ronneby's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ronneby's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ronneby
Each reading below is measured for Ronneby itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRonneby runs about 165 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
MeasuredRonneby 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 Ronneby is in
Ronneby sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ronneby's own centroid rather than borrowed from Benton County.
What Grows in Ronneby
Every plant below cleared Ronneby's own zone 4b and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ronneby?
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 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 10 — 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 Ronneby
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ronneby. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 484405Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- 543096Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 738229Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 671606Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 596780Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- 752276Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- 691138Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- 037N29W13BCD NR FOLEYNitrate · 2.2 mi
- The Falcons NestUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Foley Elementary Schools & BusUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- FOLEY SENIOR HIGHBrownfields · 2.6 mi
- BENTON COUNTY HUMAN SERVICESBrownfields · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ronneby'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 Ronneby.
Total Sites
189
within ~10 miles of Ronneby
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ronneby
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ronneby
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ronneby, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ronneby — Nitrate (120 sites) and CAFO (3 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Ronneby
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 Ronneby average
Your land is one point inside Ronneby
Everything above resolves to Ronneby as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 616 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 town 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 Ronneby Average
Ronneby Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Ronneby
- ●One soil character for all of Ronneby
- ●Frost dates read at Ronneby's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ronneby's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ronneby
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ronneby, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ronneby averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ronneby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ronneby average
How we know this about Ronneby
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Ronneby’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Ronneby
When does frost risk typically end in Ronneby?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ronneby 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 Ronneby?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ronneby 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 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ronneby?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ronneby sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 26, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ronneby?
The federal record around Ronneby is a meaningful one — 189 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (120), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.7 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 Ronneby?
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 Ronneby's scale — its 4b band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ronneby'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 Ronneby’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ronneby's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 616 acres it covers and 189 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ronneby's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ronneby's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 10 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 189 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ronneby, the closest Nitrate record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ronneby's boundary and the 616 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ronneby'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 Ronneby's 616 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Benton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Benton 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 Benton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ronneby's 616 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ronneby you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 616 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Ronneby-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaRonneby sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.