Blacktail, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Blacktail, 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 Blacktail 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 Blacktail — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Blacktail — the short answer
Blacktail, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 212 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 212 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 Blacktail's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Blacktail's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Blacktail
Each reading below is measured for Blacktail itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBlacktail runs about 147 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
MeasuredBlacktail 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 Blacktail is in
Blacktail sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Blacktail's own centroid rather than borrowed from Williams County.
What Grows in Blacktail
Every plant below cleared Blacktail's own zone 4a and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Blacktail?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 30 — 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 Blacktail
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Blacktail. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 157-101-15BNitrate · 0.7 mi
- 157-101-08BBCNitrate · 1.7 mi
- BLACKTAIL CREEK SPILLSuperfund · 4.9 mi
- 158-100-19CCCNitrate · 5.2 mi
- 156-101-04CDDNitrate · 5.7 mi
- 156-102-08DAANitrate · 6.8 mi
- 158-100-20AABNitrate · 7.0 mi
- 158-102-28ABANitrate · 7.1 mi
- 158-100-17ABC4Nitrate · 7.5 mi
- 158-100-17ABC1Nitrate · 7.5 mi
- 158-100-17ABBNitrate · 7.6 mi
- 158-100-17ADANitrate · 7.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Blacktail'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 Blacktail.
Total Sites
43
within ~10 miles of Blacktail
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Blacktail
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Blacktail
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Blacktail, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Blacktail. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Blacktail
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 Blacktail average
Your land is one point inside Blacktail
Everything above resolves to Blacktail as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 212 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 town 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 Blacktail Average
Blacktail Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Blacktail
- ●One soil character for all of Blacktail
- ●Frost dates read at Blacktail's scale: May 6 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Blacktail's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Blacktail
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Blacktail, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Blacktail averages can't show:
We read public map data around Blacktail — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Blacktail average
How we know this about Blacktail
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Blacktail’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Blacktail
When does frost risk typically end in Blacktail?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Blacktail typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Blacktail?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Blacktail typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Blacktail?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Blacktail sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 16, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Blacktail?
The federal record around Blacktail is a meaningful one — 43 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (40), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.7 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 gardeners stretch the season in Blacktail?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Blacktail 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 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 6 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Blacktail's scale — its 4a band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Blacktail'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 Blacktail’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Blacktail's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 212 acres it covers and 43 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Blacktail's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Blacktail's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Sep 30 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 43 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Blacktail, the closest Nitrate record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Blacktail's boundary and the 212 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Blacktail's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Blacktail's 212 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Williams County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Williams County
- The growing challenges every North Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom North Dakota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Williams County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Blacktail's 212 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Blacktail you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 212 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.7 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 Blacktail-wide figureread your own land →
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