Taconite, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Taconite, 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 Taconite 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 Taconite — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Taconite — the short answer
Taconite, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 154 days between hard freezes, across 18K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~154
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 18K 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 4a is Taconite's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Taconite's 154-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Taconite
Each reading below is measured for Taconite itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTaconite runs about 154 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
MeasuredTaconite sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Taconite is in
Taconite sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Taconite's own centroid rather than borrowed from Itasca County.
What Grows in Taconite
Every plant below cleared Taconite's own zone 4a and its 154-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Taconite?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — 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 Taconite
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Taconite. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Highway 7 Right Of Way ProjectUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Plummer MineUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Taconite City GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- 056N24W27BBC 01 TaconiteNitrate · 0.7 mi
- ERP IRON ORE LLC - PLANT 2Brownfields · 1.9 mi
- Bovey SpurUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- ISD 316 BUS GARAGE SITEBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- NK-G Transportation IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- 056N24W32BDA 01 Bovey 0000228834Nitrate · 2.4 mi
- Bovey BaitUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- 056N24W32CAB 02 Coleraine 3Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- UMD - NRRI COLERAINE LABSBrownfields · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Taconite'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 Taconite.
Total Sites
238
within ~10 miles of Taconite
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Taconite
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Taconite
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 Taconite
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 Taconite average
Your land is one point inside Taconite
Everything above resolves to Taconite as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 18K 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 Taconite Average
Taconite Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Taconite
- ●One soil character for all of Taconite
- ●Frost dates read at Taconite's scale: May 3 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Taconite's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Taconite
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Taconite, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Taconite averages can't show:
We read public map data around Taconite — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Taconite average
How we know this about Taconite
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 Taconite’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 Taconite
When does frost risk typically end in Taconite?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Taconite typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Taconite?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Taconite typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 154 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Taconite?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Taconite sees about 154 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 20, about 119 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Taconite?
The federal record around Taconite is a meaningful one — 238 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (104), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Taconite?
From about Sep 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Taconite's scale — its 4a band and its 154-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Taconite'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 Taconite’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Taconite's own scale — its own ~154-day season between 28°F freezes, the 17,902 acres it covers and 238 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Taconite's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Taconite's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 4 and the ~154-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 238 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Taconite, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Taconite's boundary and the 17,902 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~154-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Taconite's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Taconite's 17,902 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Itasca County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Itasca 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 Itasca County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Taconite's 17,902 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Taconite you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 17,902 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Taconite-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaTaconite sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides