Wendell, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Wendell, 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 Wendell 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 Wendell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wendell — the short answer
Wendell, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 174 days between hard freezes, across 636 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- 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 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~174
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 636 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 4b is Wendell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wendell's 174-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wendell
Each reading below is measured for Wendell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWendell runs about 174 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
MeasuredWendell sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Wendell is in
Wendell sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wendell's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Grant County is mostly Northern Glaciated Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Wendell
Every plant below cleared Wendell's own zone 4b and its 174-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wendell?
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 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 12 — 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 Wendell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wendell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 130N43W33BBB 01 Cty WendellNitrate · 400 ft
- Beckman ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- City Of Elbow Lake GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Elbow Lake StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Ok Tire Store IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Grant County HospitalUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Farmers Elevator - WendellUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- Abandoned Pool Hall/eagle BankUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- 130N43W14DDA 01 R DemareeNitrate · 3.6 mi
- 167675Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- TITAN MACHINERY INC - ELBOW LBrownfields · 5.3 mi
- 129N42W23DAC 01 V SwensonNitrate · 5.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wendell'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 Wendell.
Total Sites
57
within ~10 miles of Wendell
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wendell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wendell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wendell, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Wendell — CAFO (4 sites) and Nitrate (26 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 Wendell
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 Wendell average
Your land is one point inside Wendell
Everything above resolves to Wendell as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 636 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 Wendell Average
Wendell Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Wendell
- ●One soil character for all of Wendell
- ●Frost dates read at Wendell's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wendell's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wendell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wendell, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wendell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wendell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wendell average
How we know this about Wendell
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 Wendell’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 Wendell
When does frost risk typically end in Wendell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wendell 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 Wendell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wendell 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 174 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wendell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wendell sees about 174 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Sep 28, about 139 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wendell?
The federal record around Wendell shows 57 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (26), the nearest Nitrate 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 Wendell?
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 Wendell's scale — its 4b band and its 174-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wendell'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 Wendell’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wendell's own scale — its own ~174-day season between 28°F freezes, the 636 acres it covers and 57 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wendell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wendell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 12 and the ~174-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 57 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wendell, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wendell's boundary and the 636 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~174-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Wendell sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wendell's 636 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grant County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grant 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 Grant County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wendell's 636 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wendell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 636 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 Wendell-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaWendell sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides