Pembina County, in North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Pembina County lies within the Red River Valley — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Pembina County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Pembina 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 Pembina County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Pembina County — the short answer
Pembina County, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 159 days between hard freezes, across 716K acres.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~159
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 716K 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 4a is Pembina County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pembina County's 159-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Pembina County
Across a year, Pembina County accumulates about 1,772 growing degree days above 50°F, about 141 fewer than the middle North Dakota county — ahead of 9 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 Pembina County
Across Pembina County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Glyndon, Bearden, and Fargo are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally somewhat poorly drained with a silty clay surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.2–7.9, slightly alkaline. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Somewhat poorly drained
Prime farmland
49%
Hydric soils
41%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Pembina County
The USDA soil survey maps 40% of Pembina County as somewhat poorly drained — but another 60% drains differently: 33% poorly drained, 13% moderately well drained.
Glyndon is the most extensive named soil at 18% of mapped acres, then Bearden (17%) and Fargo (10%).
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 Pembina County
Each reading below is measured for Pembina 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 Pembina County are somewhat poorly drained, in hydrologic group C — ground that sheds water slowly.
Beds can stay saturated for days after heavy rain, and the roots of most vegetables, berries, and fruit trees suffocate or rot in soil that never drains.
Raised beds or mounded rows lift roots above the wet zone; choose water-tolerant crops for the lowest spots.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Pembina County runs about pH 7.2–7.9, 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
Season length
MeasuredPembina County runs about 159 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
MeasuredPembina County 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 Pembina County is in
Pembina County sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Pembina County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Pembina County's own USDA zone 4a and its own 159-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 Pembina County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — 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 gets applied to farmland in Pembina County
USGS estimates 406,507 lb of Glyphosate on Pembina County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Bentazone (67,190 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (57,719 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 Pembina County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Pembina County — 249 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Pembina 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 Pembina County
Closest first, across Pembina County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- North Star CoopUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Bjornson OilUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- D and P ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- NORTHERN LIGHTS AUTO BODYBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- 161-054-04ADC1Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- 161-054-04ADC2Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- Bens Oil and TireUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- Abrahamson Brothers Construction YardUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- 162-053-35BDCNitrate · 5.0 mi
- 161-053-02AAANitrate · 5.1 mi
- MAYO CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC.Brownfields · 5.1 mi
- 162-053-35DACNitrate · 5.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pembina 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 Pembina County.
Total Sites
249
across Pembina County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Pembina County
Severity Distribution
across Pembina County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pembina County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 190 sites across Pembina 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 Pembina 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 Pembina County average
Your land is one point inside Pembina County
Everything above resolves to Pembina County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 716K 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 Pembina County Average
Pembina County Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Pembina County
- ●One soil character for all of Pembina County
- ●Frost dates read at Pembina County's scale: May 3 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pembina County's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Pembina County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pembina County, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pembina County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pembina County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pembina County average
How we know this about Pembina 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 Pembina County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Pembina County
When does frost risk typically end in Pembina County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pembina County typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
How long is the growing season in Pembina County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pembina County sees about 159 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 25, about 124 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pembina County?
The federal record around Pembina County is a meaningful one — 249 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (190), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.0 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.
Everything above is measured at Pembina County's scale — its 4a band and its 159-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pembina 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 Pembina County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Pembina County's own scale — its own ~159-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 249 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pembina County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pembina County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~159-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Pembina CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 249 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.0 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Pembina County's boundary and the 715,862 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~159-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Pembina County sitting wholly inside the Lake Agassiz PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Pembina 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 Pembina County — the ~159 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 Pembina County's 715,862 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 249 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 Pembina Countyread your own land →