Waubun, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Waubun, 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 Waubun 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 Waubun — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Waubun — the short answer
Waubun, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 168 days between hard freezes, across 329 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~168
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 329 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 Waubun's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waubun's 168-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waubun
Each reading below is measured for Waubun itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWaubun runs about 168 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
MeasuredWaubun 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 Waubun is in
Waubun sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Waubun's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mahnomen County.
What Grows in Waubun
Every plant below cleared Waubun's own zone 4a and its 168-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Waubun?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 Waubun
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waubun. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Elk Horn Resort & CampgroundsUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- WAUBUN OGEMA SCHOOL DISTBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Bement Service IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- WAUBUN HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 1700 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL #22107Brownfields · 1700 ft
- Elbow Lake Store & BarUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Hoot Owl ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Waubun WWTPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Ez-One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Robert M ConleyUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Rainbow ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Elbow-tulabx Fire Dept StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waubun'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 Waubun.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waubun
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waubun
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 Waubun
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 Waubun average
Your land is one point inside Waubun
Everything above resolves to Waubun as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 329 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 Waubun Average
Waubun Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Waubun
- ●One soil character for all of Waubun
- ●Frost dates read at Waubun's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waubun's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waubun
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waubun, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waubun averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waubun — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waubun average
How we know this about Waubun
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 Waubun’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 Waubun
When does frost risk typically end in Waubun?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waubun typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Waubun?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waubun typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 168 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Waubun?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waubun sees about 168 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Sep 28, about 133 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Waubun?
The federal record around Waubun is light — 47 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (22), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Waubun?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Waubun's scale — its 4a band and its 168-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waubun'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 Waubun’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Waubun's own scale — its own ~168-day season between 28°F freezes, the 329 acres it covers and 47 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waubun's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Waubun's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 12 and the ~168-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 47 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waubun, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waubun's boundary and the 329 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~168-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Waubun's own centroid, the Lake Agassiz PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Waubun's 329 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mahnomen County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mahnomen 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 Mahnomen County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Waubun's 329 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waubun you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 329 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 Waubun-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaWaubun sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides