Divide County, in North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Divide County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Divide County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Divide County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Divide County — the short answer
Divide County, North Dakota: USDA zone 3b, about 145 days between hard freezes, across 807K acres.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~145
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 807K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Divide County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Divide County's 145-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Divide County
Across a year, Divide County accumulates about 1,610 growing degree days above 50°F, about 303 fewer than the middle North Dakota county — ahead of 5 of North Dakota’s 53 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Divide County
Across Divide County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Williams, Zahl, and Parnell are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.0–7.9, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group B soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
0%
Hydric soils
15%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Divide County
The USDA soil survey maps 64% of Divide County as well drained — but another 36% drains differently: 12% moderately well drained, 9% very poorly drained.
Williams is the most extensive named soil at 28% of mapped acres, then Zahl (24%) and Parnell (7%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Divide County
Each reading below is measured for Divide County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Divide County are well drained, in hydrologic group B — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Divide County runs about pH 7.0–7.9, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 15% of Divide County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredDivide County runs about 145 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
The kind of country Divide County is in
Divide County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — Northwestern Glaciated Plains (75%) and Northern Glaciated Plains (25%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Divide County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Divide County's own USDA zone 3b and its own 145-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile.
Is it too late to plant in Divide County?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What gets applied to farmland in Divide County
USGS estimates 235,340 lb of Glyphosate on Divide County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Bromoxynil (31,918 lb) and 2,4-d (24,769 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Divide County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Divide County — 254 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Toxics Release Inventory facility. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
There's a meaningful federal record across Divide County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Divide County
Closest first, across Divide County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 162-099-34DABNitrate · 800 ft
- 161-099-01BABNitrate · 1.5 mi
- 161-098-20BBB2Nitrate · 4.7 mi
- 162-098-28BABNitrate · 5.0 mi
- 162-100-23AAA1Nitrate · 5.6 mi
- 162-099-06DDBNitrate · 5.6 mi
- 163-099-35BCBNitrate · 6.2 mi
- US West CommunicationsUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- 160-099-03BBB2Nitrate · 6.8 mi
- 160-099-03BBB1Nitrate · 6.8 mi
- 161-099-31CCCNitrate · 7.5 mi
- 162-098-14DAANitrate · 7.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Divide County'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 Divide County.
Total Sites
254
across Divide County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
across Divide County
Severity Distribution
across Divide County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Divide County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 228 sites across Divide County. 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 Divide County
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 Divide County average
Your land is one point inside Divide County
Everything above resolves to Divide County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 807K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Divide County Average
Divide County Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Divide County
- ●One soil character for all of Divide County
- ●Frost dates read at Divide County's scale: May 7 to Sep 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Divide County's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Divide County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Divide County, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Divide County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Divide County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Divide County average
How we know this about Divide County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Divide County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Divide County
When does frost risk typically end in Divide County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Divide County typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
How long is the growing season in Divide County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Divide County sees about 145 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Sep 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 15, about 110 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Divide County?
The federal record around Divide County is a meaningful one — 254 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (228), the nearest Nitrate 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 gardeners stretch the season in Divide County?
With about 145 frost-free days between hard freezes, Divide County 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 173 to 201 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 7 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Divide County's scale — its 3b band and its 145-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Divide County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads North Dakota's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Divide County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Divide County's own scale — its own ~145-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 254 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Divide County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Divide County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~145-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Divide CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 254 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Divide County's boundary and the 807,122 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~145-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Divide County spans, Northwestern Glaciated Plains the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Divide County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every North Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom North Dakota
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Divide County — the ~145 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Divide County's 807,122 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 254 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Divide Countyread your own land →