What Grows in Strandquist, Minnesota

USDA Zones 3b · 167 acres

Strandquist, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.

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.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Strandquist, 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 Strandquist 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 Strandquist — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

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Strandquist — the short answer

Strandquist, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 155 days between hard freezes, across 167 acres of city.

USDA zone
3b
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
May 4
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Oct 6
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Days between freezes
~155
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
City area
167 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

3b3b
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 3b is Strandquist's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Strandquist's 155-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Strandquist

Each reading below is measured for Strandquist itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

Measured

Strandquist runs about 155 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

Measured

Strandquist sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.

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 Strandquist is in

Strandquist sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Strandquist's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marshall County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Strandquist

Every plant below cleared Strandquist's own zone 3b and its 155-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in MinnesotaZones 2–11Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
cranberry, photograph
Minnesota cranberry guideZones 2–7Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Turkish rocket, photograph
Turkish rocket in MinnesotaStrandquist's 155 days clear the ~90 it needs.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Minnesota growing notesZones 2–11Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
blueberry, photograph
Growing blueberry in MinnesotaZones 3–8Strandquist's 3b is its exact cold limit.
epazote, photograph
Minnesota epazote guideStrandquist's 155 days clear the ~60 it needs.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in MinnesotaZones 2–10Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
shiso, photograph
Shiso: Minnesota growing notesStrandquist's 155 days clear the ~80 it needs.
kale, photograph
Growing kale in MinnesotaZones 2–11Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
lentil, photograph
Minnesota lentil guideZones 2–11Strandquist's 155 days clear the ~70 it needs.
okra, photograph
Okra in MinnesotaZones 2–12Strandquist's 155 days clear the ~50 it needs.
potato, photograph
Potato: Minnesota growing notesZones 2–11Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
rhubarb, photograph
Growing rhubarb in MinnesotaZones 2–8Strandquist's 155 days clear the ~60 it needs.
sweet corn, photograph
Minnesota sweet corn guideZones 2–11Strandquist's 155 days clear the ~65 it needs.
zucchini, photograph
Zucchini in MinnesotaZones 2–11Strandquist's 155 days clear the ~40 it needs.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Minnesota growing notesZones 3–8Strandquist's 3b is its exact cold limit.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in MinnesotaZones 2–11Strandquist's 155 days clear the ~70 it needs.
American cranberry bush, photograph
Minnesota american cranberry bush guideZones 2–7Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
hops, photograph
Hops in MinnesotaZones 3–8Strandquist's 3b is its exact cold limit.
iris, photograph
Iris: Minnesota growing notesZones 3–10Strandquist's 3b is its exact cold limit.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in MinnesotaStrandquist's 155 days clear the ~50 it needs.
red twig dogwood, photograph
Minnesota red twig dogwood guideZones 2–7Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
riverbank grape, photograph
Riverbank grape in MinnesotaZones 2–8Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
New Guinea impatiens, photograph
New Guinea impatiens: Minnesota growing notesStrandquist's 155 days clear the ~80 it needs.
blue spruce, photograph
Growing blue spruce in MinnesotaZones 2–8Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
Minnesota triticale guideStrandquist's 155 days clear the ~90 it needs.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in MinnesotaZones 2–7Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.
American elm, photograph
American elm: Minnesota growing notesZones 3–9Strandquist's 3b is its exact cold limit.
alfalfa, photograph
Growing alfalfa in MinnesotaZones 2–10Strandquist's 155 days clear the ~100 it needs.
bunchberry, photograph
Minnesota bunchberry guideZones 2–6Strandquist's 3b — 1 zone of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Strandquist?

Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — 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 Strandquist

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Strandquist. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. 158N45W22CBD 01 StrandquistNitrate · 350 ft
  2. THRIFTY WHITE DRUG 722Brownfields · 500 ft
  3. Former Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
  4. 101694Nitrate · 3.4 mi
  5. 157N45W10DDC 01 SundburgNitrate · 4.2 mi
  6. 158N46W35CDC 02Nitrate · 5.5 mi
  7. RS16 157N46W02DDCC 01Nitrate · 5.5 mi
  8. 157N44W21AAA 01 Ekman BrosNitrate · 5.7 mi
  9. 159N45W23CCC 01 G SwensonNitrate · 5.9 mi
  10. 159N46W25ABB 01 KarlstadNitrate · 6.6 mi
  11. MNDOT KARLSTAD TSBrownfields · 6.7 mi
  12. KARLSTAD SENIOR LIVINGBrownfields · 6.7 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Strandquist'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 Strandquist.

Total Sites

44

within ~10 miles of Strandquist

Risk Level

Low

Highest-severity

10 brownfield sites

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Strandquist

High0Moderate31Low13

Highest-Severity Sites

101694
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
101694
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
156n45w09aba 01 a Ordahl
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
156n45w09aba 01 a Ordahl
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
157n44w21aaa 01 Ekman Bros
Nitrate Monitoring · Well

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Strandquist, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Strandquist. 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.

Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Strandquist

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 Strandquist average

Your land is one point inside Strandquist

Everything above resolves to Strandquist as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 167 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 Strandquist Average

Strandquist Average

  • USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Strandquist
  • One soil character for all of Strandquist
  • Frost dates read at Strandquist's scale: May 4 to Oct 6

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Strandquist's 3b
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Strandquist

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Strandquist, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Strandquist averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Strandquist averages 155Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Strandquist — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Strandquist average

How we know this about Strandquist

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 Strandquist’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 Strandquist

When does frost risk typically end in Strandquist?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Strandquist typically lands around May 4, 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 25.

When is the first frost in Strandquist?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Strandquist typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 155 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Strandquist?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Strandquist sees about 155 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 22, about 120 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Strandquist?

The federal record around Strandquist is light — 44 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (30), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.

How do I protect my plants from frost in Strandquist?

From about Sep 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Strandquist's scale — its 3b band and its 155-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Strandquist'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 Strandquist’s own scale

6 of the readings below were taken at Strandquist's own scale — its own ~155-day season between 28°F freezes, the 167 acres it covers and 44 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Strandquist's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Strandquist's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 6 and the ~155-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
  • 44 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Strandquist, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Strandquist's boundary and the 167 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~155-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Strandquist's own centroid, the Lake Agassiz PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions

Inherited from a wider read

  • Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Strandquist's 167 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marshall County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marshall 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 Marshall County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Strandquist's 167 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Strandquist you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 167 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Strandquist-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address