Storden, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Storden, 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 Storden 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 Storden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Storden — the short answer
Storden, Minnesota: USDA zone 5a, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 141 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 141 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 5a is Storden's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Storden's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Storden
Each reading below is measured for Storden itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredStorden runs about 173 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
MeasuredStorden sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Storden is in
Storden sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Storden's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cottonwood County.
What Grows in Storden
Every plant below cleared Storden's own zone 5a and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Storden?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Storden
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Storden. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STORDEN PARTS & SERVICE CTRBrownfields · 700 ft
- Fay's CornerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- COTTONWOOD COUNTY HIGHWAY SHOPBrownfields · 1500 ft
- Rosehill Township ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Orval Bondhus FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Madson Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Moores GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Lamberton-Wabasso Farmers ElevUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- ITC MIDWEST STORDEN JUNCTIONBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- TYSON ANDERSON FARMCAFO · 1.7 mi
- MICK MADSON FARM - UNIT 4CAFO · 1.9 mi
- 158022Nitrate · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Storden'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 Storden.
Total Sites
85
within ~10 miles of Storden
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Storden
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Storden
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Storden, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Storden — CAFO (9 sites) and Nitrate (30 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Storden
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 Storden average
Your land is one point inside Storden
Everything above resolves to Storden as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 141 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 Storden Average
Storden Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Storden
- ●One soil character for all of Storden
- ●Frost dates read at Storden's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Storden's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Storden
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Storden, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Storden averages can't show:
We read public map data around Storden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Storden average
How we know this about Storden
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 Storden’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 Storden
When does frost risk typically end in Storden?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Storden typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Storden?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Storden typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Storden?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Storden sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Sep 27, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Storden?
The federal record around Storden shows 85 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (30), 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 Storden?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Storden's scale — its 5a band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Storden'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 Storden’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Storden's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 141 acres it covers and 85 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Storden's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Storden's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 11 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 85 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Storden, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Storden's boundary and the 141 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Storden'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 Storden's 141 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cottonwood County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Storden's 141 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Storden you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 141 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 Storden-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaStorden sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.