Zimmerman, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Zimmerman, 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 Zimmerman 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 Zimmerman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Zimmerman — the short answer
Zimmerman, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- 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
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Zimmerman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Zimmerman's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Zimmerman
Each reading below is measured for Zimmerman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredZimmerman runs about 169 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
MeasuredZimmerman 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 Zimmerman is in
Zimmerman sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Zimmerman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sherburne County.
What Grows in Zimmerman
Every plant below cleared Zimmerman's own zone 4b and its 169-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Zimmerman?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (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. 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 Zimmerman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Zimmerman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ISD 728 ZIMMERMAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBrownfields · 650 ft
- ZIMMERMAN HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 800 ft
- HUDSON HARDWARE OF ZIMMERMANBrownfields · 1000 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL 19543Brownfields · 1000 ft
- 034N26W08DD 01 Forstry DivNitrate · 1100 ft
- DNR - FORESTRY OFFICEBrownfields · 1100 ft
- Dnr - Forestry OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- ISD 728 Zimmerman High SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ZIMMERMAN CITY OFBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Sherburne County Public WorksUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SHERBURNE COUNTY PUBLIC WORKSBrownfields · 1800 ft
- OIL FILTER RECYCLERSBrownfields · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Zimmerman'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 Zimmerman.
Total Sites
572
within ~10 miles of Zimmerman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
13 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Zimmerman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Zimmerman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Zimmerman, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Zimmerman — Nitrate (232 sites) and PFAS (5 sites). 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.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Zimmerman
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 Zimmerman average
Your land is one point inside Zimmerman
Everything above resolves to Zimmerman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Zimmerman Average
Zimmerman Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Zimmerman
- ●One soil character for all of Zimmerman
- ●Frost dates read at Zimmerman's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Zimmerman's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Zimmerman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Zimmerman, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Zimmerman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Zimmerman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Zimmerman average
How we know this about Zimmerman
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 Zimmerman’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 Zimmerman
When does frost risk typically end in Zimmerman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Zimmerman typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Zimmerman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Zimmerman 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 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Zimmerman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Zimmerman sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Sep 28, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Zimmerman?
The federal record around Zimmerman is a meaningful one — 572 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (232), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Zimmerman?
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 Zimmerman's scale — its 4b band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Zimmerman'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 Zimmerman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Zimmerman's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,410 acres it covers and 572 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Zimmerman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Zimmerman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 12 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 572 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Zimmerman, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Zimmerman's boundary and the 2,410 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Zimmerman'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 Zimmerman's 2,410 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sherburne County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sherburne 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 Sherburne County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Zimmerman's 2,410 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Zimmerman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,410 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Zimmerman-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaZimmerman sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides