Winton, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Winton, 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 Winton 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 Winton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Winton — the short answer
Winton, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 78 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 78 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 3b is Winton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Winton's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Winton
Each reading below is measured for Winton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWinton runs about 148 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWinton sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 Winton is in
Winton sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Winton's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Louis County.
What Grows in Winton
Every plant below cleared Winton's own zone 3b and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Winton?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Winton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Winton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ely Winton HangerUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- WINTON GARAGEBrownfields · 1800 ft
- MINNESOTA POWER INC - WINTONBrownfields · 1900 ft
- VETERANS ON THE LAKE RESORTBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- LAKE COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPTBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- ELY OUTDOOR LEARNING CENTERBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- Sheridan Street ProjectUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Sheridan St ProjectUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Usx Ely SiteUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Kawishiwi Field Lab - Usda Forest ServUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- N Central Frst Exp Sta-kawishiwi Fld LabUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Snowbank LodgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Winton'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 Winton.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Winton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Winton
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Winton
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 Winton average
Your land is one point inside Winton
Everything above resolves to Winton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 78 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 Winton Average
Winton Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Winton
- ●One soil character for all of Winton
- ●Frost dates read at Winton's scale: May 11 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Winton's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Winton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Winton, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Winton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Winton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Winton average
How we know this about Winton
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 Winton’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 Winton
When does frost risk typically end in Winton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Winton typically lands around May 11, 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 Jun 1.
When is the first frost in Winton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Winton typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Winton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Winton sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 22, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Winton?
The federal record around Winton shows 104 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (42), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Winton?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Winton rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 11 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Winton's scale — its 3b band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Winton'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 Winton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Winton's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 78 acres it covers and 104 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Winton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Winton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Oct 6 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 104 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Winton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Winton's boundary and the 78 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Winton'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 Winton's 78 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Louis County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Louis 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 St. Louis County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Winton's 78 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Winton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 78 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 Winton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaWinton sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides