Dickinson, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Dickinson, 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 Dickinson 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 Dickinson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Dickinson — the short answer
Dickinson, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- 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)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Dickinson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dickinson's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dickinson
Each reading below is measured for Dickinson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDickinson runs about 149 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
MeasuredDickinson 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 Dickinson is in
Dickinson sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Dickinson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Stark County.
What Grows in Dickinson
Every plant below cleared Dickinson's own zone 4a and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dickinson?
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 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 Oct 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Dickinson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dickinson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Lucky's XpressUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- T-Rex ConocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Mini Mart 677Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Dinsdales Exxon StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Cenex Museum GeneralUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Holiday Stationstore #225Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- 139-096-04ACANitrate · 2400 ft
- Simonson Station Store North I 94 DiscountUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- LAW ENFORCEMENT CENTER - DICKINSONBrownfields · 2600 ft
- Cenex General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Dickinson High SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- North Dakota State Dept of TransportationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dickinson'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 Dickinson.
Total Sites
319
within ~10 miles of Dickinson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
15 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dickinson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dickinson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dickinson, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 120 sites within ~10 miles of Dickinson. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Dickinson
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 Dickinson average
Your land is one point inside Dickinson
Everything above resolves to Dickinson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 8K 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 Dickinson Average
Dickinson Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Dickinson
- ●One soil character for all of Dickinson
- ●Frost dates read at Dickinson's scale: May 6 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dickinson's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dickinson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dickinson, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dickinson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dickinson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dickinson average
How we know this about Dickinson
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 Dickinson’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 Dickinson
When does frost risk typically end in Dickinson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dickinson 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 Dickinson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dickinson typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dickinson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dickinson sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 18, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dickinson?
The federal record around Dickinson is a meaningful one — 319 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (133), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Dickinson?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Dickinson 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 177 to 205 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 Dickinson's scale — its 4a band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dickinson'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 Dickinson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Dickinson's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 8,448 acres it covers and 319 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dickinson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dickinson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 2 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 319 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dickinson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dickinson's boundary and the 8,448 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dickinson's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dickinson's 8,448 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Stark County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Stark 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 Stark County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dickinson's 8,448 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dickinson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,448 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Dickinson-wide figureread your own land →
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