East Dunseith, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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.
Even in East Dunseith, 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 East Dunseith 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 East Dunseith — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
East Dunseith — the short answer
East Dunseith, North Dakota: USDA zone 3b, about 142 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~142
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 3b is East Dunseith's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against East Dunseith's 142-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in East Dunseith
Each reading below is measured for East Dunseith itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEast Dunseith runs about 142 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
MeasuredEast Dunseith sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 East Dunseith is in
East Dunseith sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at East Dunseith's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rolette County.
What Grows in East Dunseith
Every plant below cleared East Dunseith's own zone 3b and its 142-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in East Dunseith?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 28 — 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 East Dunseith
Closest first, within ~10 miles of East Dunseith. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Vivs C StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Four Winds ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 162-080-11ABANitrate · 1.4 mi
- Decoteau C StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Dunseith Day School(BIA)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- SAN HAVEN CISTERNSuperfund · 2.1 mi
- 162-073-25AADNitrate · 2.6 mi
- Garden View Drive Inn SinclairUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- BENCHMARK ELECTRONICS INCToxics Release Inventory · 3.9 mi
- Lamoureux Garage Custom AutoUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Davis SinclairUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Cenex C StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from East Dunseith'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 East Dunseith.
Total Sites
74
within ~10 miles of East Dunseith
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of East Dunseith
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of East Dunseith
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around East Dunseith, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 60 sites within ~10 miles of East Dunseith. 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 East Dunseith
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 East Dunseith average
Your land is one point inside East Dunseith
Everything above resolves to East Dunseith as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 East Dunseith Average
East Dunseith Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across East Dunseith
- ●One soil character for all of East Dunseith
- ●Frost dates read at East Dunseith's scale: May 9 to Sep 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not East Dunseith's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in East Dunseith
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in East Dunseith, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that East Dunseith averages can't show:
We read public map data around East Dunseith — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the East Dunseith average
How we know this about East Dunseith
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 East Dunseith’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 East Dunseith
When does frost risk typically end in East Dunseith?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in East Dunseith typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in East Dunseith?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in East Dunseith typically arrives around Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 14, so the watching starts about Aug 29 — about 142 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in East Dunseith?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, East Dunseith sees about 142 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 14, about 107 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in East Dunseith?
The federal record around East Dunseith is a meaningful one — 74 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (60), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 East Dunseith?
With about 142 frost-free days between hard freezes, East Dunseith 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 170 to 198 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 9 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at East Dunseith's scale — its 3b band and its 142-day season. Your yard writes its own version of East Dunseith'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 East Dunseith’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at East Dunseith's own scale — its own ~142-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,281 acres it covers and 74 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- East Dunseith's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- East Dunseith's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Sep 28 and the ~142-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 74 documented contamination sites on the federal record near East Dunseith, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- East Dunseith's boundary and the 3,281 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~142-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at East Dunseith's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so East Dunseith's 3,281 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rolette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rolette 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 Rolette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among East Dunseith's 3,281 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of East Dunseith you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,281 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 East Dunseith-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Growing region
Nearby growing guides