Englevale, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Englevale, 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 Englevale 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 Englevale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Englevale — the short answer
Englevale, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 951 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 951 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 Englevale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Englevale's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Englevale
Each reading below is measured for Englevale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEnglevale runs about 165 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
MeasuredEnglevale 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 Englevale is in
Englevale sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Englevale's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ransom County.
What Grows in Englevale
Every plant below cleared Englevale's own zone 4a and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Englevale?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Englevale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Englevale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 134-057-30DCC2Nitrate · 2600 ft
- 134-057-19DCCNitrate · 0.7 mi
- Ronald Wagner FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 134-058-25DCC9Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 134-058-25DCC3Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 134-058-25DCC8Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 134-058-25DCC1Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 134-058-25DCC4Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 134-058-25DCC7Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 134-058-25DCC2Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 134-058-25CDD2Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 134-058-25CDD1Nitrate · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Englevale'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 Englevale.
Total Sites
232
within ~10 miles of Englevale
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
228 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Englevale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Englevale, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 228 sites within ~10 miles of Englevale. 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 Englevale
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 Englevale average
Your land is one point inside Englevale
Everything above resolves to Englevale as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 951 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 Englevale Average
Englevale Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Englevale
- ●One soil character for all of Englevale
- ●Frost dates read at Englevale's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Englevale's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Englevale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Englevale, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Englevale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Englevale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Englevale average
How we know this about Englevale
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 Englevale’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 Englevale
When does frost risk typically end in Englevale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Englevale typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Englevale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Englevale typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Englevale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Englevale sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 26, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Englevale?
The federal record around Englevale is a meaningful one — 232 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (228), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 I protect my plants from frost in Englevale?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Englevale's scale — its 4a band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Englevale'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 Englevale’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Englevale's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 951 acres it covers and 232 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Englevale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Englevale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 10 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 232 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Englevale, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Englevale's boundary and the 951 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Englevale's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Englevale's 951 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ransom County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ransom 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 Ransom County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Englevale's 951 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Englevale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 951 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Englevale-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaEnglevale sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides