East Fairview, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in East Fairview, 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 Fairview 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 Fairview — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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East Fairview — the short answer
East Fairview, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 155 days between hard freezes, across 244 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~155
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 244 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 East Fairview's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against East Fairview's 155-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in East Fairview
Each reading below is measured for East Fairview itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEast Fairview runs about 155 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
MeasuredEast Fairview 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 East Fairview is in
East Fairview sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at East Fairview's own centroid rather than borrowed from McKenzie County.
What Grows in East Fairview
Every plant below cleared East Fairview's own zone 4a and its 155-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in East Fairview?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — 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's on the federal record near East Fairview
Closest first, within ~10 miles of East Fairview. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- McKenzie CountyUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Cenex LtdUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- RICHLAND COUNTY S ELLERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- LOAF & JUG 714Underground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- CHERREYS RED TOP SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- HORIZON RESOURCES FAIRVIEW STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- CITY OF FAIRVIEWUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- FERRELLGASUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- CUMMINS ELECTRICUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- VALLEY VU FEEDLOT INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- RICHLAND COUNTY 6TH STUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 150-104-04BBBNitrate · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from East Fairview'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 Fairview.
Total Sites
116
within ~10 miles of East Fairview
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of East Fairview
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of East Fairview
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around East Fairview, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 92 sites within ~10 miles of East Fairview. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 East Fairview
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 Fairview average
Your land is one point inside East Fairview
Everything above resolves to East Fairview as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 244 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 Fairview Average
East Fairview Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across East Fairview
- ●One soil character for all of East Fairview
- ●Frost dates read at East Fairview's scale: May 2 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not East Fairview's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in East Fairview
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in East Fairview, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that East Fairview averages can't show:
We read public map data around East Fairview — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the East Fairview average
How we know this about East Fairview
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 Fairview’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 Fairview
When does frost risk typically end in East Fairview?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in East Fairview typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in East Fairview?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in East Fairview typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 155 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in East Fairview?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, East Fairview sees about 155 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 20, about 120 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in East Fairview?
The federal record around East Fairview shows 116 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (92), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in East Fairview?
From about Sep 4 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at East Fairview's scale — its 4a band and its 155-day season. Your yard writes its own version of East Fairview'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 Fairview’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at East Fairview's own scale — its own ~155-day season between 28°F freezes, the 244 acres it covers and 116 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- East Fairview's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- East Fairview's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 4 and the ~155-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 116 documented contamination sites on the federal record near East Fairview, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- East Fairview's boundary and the 244 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~155-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at East Fairview's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so East Fairview's 244 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McKenzie County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McKenzie 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 McKenzie County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among East Fairview's 244 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of East Fairview you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 244 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 East Fairview-wide figureread your own land →
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