Windom, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Windom, 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 Windom 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 Windom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Windom — the short answer
Windom, Minnesota: USDA zone 5a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 5a is Windom's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Windom's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Windom
Each reading below is measured for Windom itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWindom runs about 176 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
MeasuredWindom sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Windom is in
Windom sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Windom's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cottonwood County.
What Grows in Windom
Every plant below cleared Windom's own zone 5a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Windom?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Windom
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Windom. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KLAASSEN JUNIOR DRBrownfields · 1600 ft
- Windom LaundromatUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- THE TORO CO - WINDOMBrownfields · 1700 ft
- Cottonwood County Highway DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Vets Whoa N' Go Fuel StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- WINDOM AREA HOSPITALBrownfields · 1700 ft
- Former First Avenue Auto SalesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Schaffer MobilUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- WINDOM QUICK PRINTBrownfields · 2000 ft
- LEWIS FAMILY DRUG 56Brownfields · 2000 ft
- SANFORD CLINIC - WINDOMBrownfields · 2000 ft
- New Vision Coop (feed Mill)Underground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Windom'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 Windom.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Windom
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Windom
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Windom, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 66 sites within ~10 miles of Windom. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Windom
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 Windom average
Your land is one point inside Windom
Everything above resolves to Windom as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Windom Average
Windom Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Windom
- ●One soil character for all of Windom
- ●Frost dates read at Windom's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Windom's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Windom
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Windom, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Windom averages can't show:
We read public map data around Windom — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Windom average
How we know this about Windom
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 Windom’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 Windom
When does frost risk typically end in Windom?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Windom typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Windom?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Windom typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Windom?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Windom sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Sep 29, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Windom?
The federal record around Windom is a meaningful one — 150 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (66), the nearest Brownfields 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 Windom?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Windom's scale — its 5a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Windom'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 Windom’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Windom's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,621 acres it covers and 150 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Windom's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Windom's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 13 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 150 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Windom, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Windom's boundary and the 2,621 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Windom's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Windom's 2,621 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cottonwood County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cottonwood 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 Cottonwood County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Windom's 2,621 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Windom you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,621 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Windom-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaWindom sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides