Spicer, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Spicer, 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 Spicer 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 Spicer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Spicer — the short answer
Spicer, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 182 days between hard freezes, across 782 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~182
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 782 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 Spicer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Spicer's 182-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Spicer
Each reading below is measured for Spicer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSpicer 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
MeasuredSpicer 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 Spicer is in
Spicer sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Spicer's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Kandiyohi County is mostly Western Corn Belt Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Spicer
Every plant below cleared Spicer'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 Spicer?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — 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 Spicer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Spicer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Spicer GrainUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- New London State Fish HatcheryUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Dnr Area Fisheries HeadquartersUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- GREEN LAKE NURSERY INCBrownfields · 800 ft
- Former George's Food and FuelUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- HALVORSON CO OF SPICER INCBrownfields · 950 ft
- Mel's Sport ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- GREEN LAKE DENTALBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Pjs Turf Plus IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Kandiyohi County Park #5Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Austin PowderUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Laibs GunsmithingUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Spicer'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 Spicer.
Total Sites
293
within ~10 miles of Spicer
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Spicer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Spicer
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 Spicer
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 Spicer average
Your land is one point inside Spicer
Everything above resolves to Spicer as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 782 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 Spicer Average
Spicer Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Spicer
- ●One soil character for all of Spicer
- ●Frost dates read at Spicer's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Spicer's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Spicer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Spicer, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Spicer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Spicer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Spicer average
How we know this about Spicer
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 Spicer’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 Spicer
When does frost risk typically end in Spicer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Spicer typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Spicer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Spicer typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 182 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Spicer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Spicer sees about 182 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 4, about 147 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Spicer?
The federal record around Spicer is a meaningful one — 293 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (150), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Spicer?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Spicer's scale — its 4b band and its 182-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Spicer'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 Spicer’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Spicer's own scale — its own ~182-day season between 28°F freezes, the 782 acres it covers and 293 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Spicer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Spicer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 18 and the ~182-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 293 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Spicer, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Spicer's boundary and the 782 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~182-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Spicer sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Spicer's 782 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kandiyohi County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kandiyohi 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 Kandiyohi County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Spicer's 782 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Spicer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 782 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Spicer-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaSpicer sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides