Verndale, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Verndale, 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 Verndale 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 Verndale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Verndale — the short answer
Verndale, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 660 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 660 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 Verndale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Verndale's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Verndale
Each reading below is measured for Verndale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredVerndale runs about 161 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
MeasuredVerndale 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 Verndale is in
Verndale sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Verndale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wadena County.
What Grows in Verndale
Every plant below cleared Verndale's own zone 4a and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Verndale?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — 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 Verndale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Verndale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Verndale All Star ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- BOUNDS BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1100 ft
- Verndale Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- ISD 818 VERNDALE PUBLIC SCHOOLSBrownfields · 1900 ft
- VERNDALE SHOPBrownfields · 2500 ft
- BNSF RAILWAYBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Verndale Custom HomesUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 134N34W19ABD 01Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- 476935Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- 134N34W32DCB1Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- 547454Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- 134N34W35CAB 01Nitrate · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Verndale'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 Verndale.
Total Sites
196
within ~10 miles of Verndale
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Verndale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Verndale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Verndale, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 52 sites within ~10 miles of Verndale. 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).
Check your specific parcel in Verndale
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 Verndale average
Your land is one point inside Verndale
Everything above resolves to Verndale as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 660 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 Verndale Average
Verndale Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Verndale
- ●One soil character for all of Verndale
- ●Frost dates read at Verndale's scale: May 1 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Verndale's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Verndale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Verndale, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Verndale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Verndale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Verndale average
How we know this about Verndale
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 Verndale’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 Verndale
When does frost risk typically end in Verndale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Verndale typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Verndale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Verndale typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Verndale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Verndale sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 25, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Verndale?
The federal record around Verndale shows 196 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (75), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Verndale?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Verndale's scale — its 4a band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Verndale'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 Verndale’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Verndale's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 660 acres it covers and 196 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Verndale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Verndale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 9 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 196 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Verndale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Verndale's boundary and the 660 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Verndale'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 Verndale's 660 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wadena County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wadena 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 Wadena County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Verndale's 660 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Verndale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 660 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 Verndale-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaVerndale sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.