Forest River, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Forest River, 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 Forest River 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 Forest River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Forest River — the short answer
Forest River, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 164 days between hard freezes, across 321 acres of city.
- 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 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~164
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 321 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 Forest River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Forest River's 164-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Forest River
Each reading below is measured for Forest River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredForest River runs about 164 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
MeasuredForest River 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 Forest River is in
Forest River sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Forest River's own centroid rather than borrowed from Walsh County.
What Grows in Forest River
Every plant below cleared Forest River's own zone 4a and its 164-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Forest River?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 9 — 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 Forest River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Forest River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- B and M ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- 155-053-28CCBNitrate · 1700 ft
- Franks Repair ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- 154-054-03DDANitrate · 4.7 mi
- 155-053-12BAANitrate · 4.8 mi
- Clark FarmsUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- 155-052-06BCBNitrate · 5.8 mi
- 155-054-16ABANitrate · 5.8 mi
- Burlington Northern Railroad CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- 155-052-08BDD1Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- Farmers Union Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- 155-052-33BCANitrate · 6.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Forest River'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 Forest River.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Forest River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Forest River
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Forest River, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Forest River. 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 Forest River
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 Forest River average
Your land is one point inside Forest River
Everything above resolves to Forest River as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 321 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 Forest River Average
Forest River Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Forest River
- ●One soil character for all of Forest River
- ●Frost dates read at Forest River's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Forest River's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Forest River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Forest River, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Forest River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Forest River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Forest River average
How we know this about Forest River
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 Forest River’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 Forest River
When does frost risk typically end in Forest River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Forest River 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 Forest River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Forest River typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 164 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Forest River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Forest River sees about 164 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 25, about 129 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Forest River?
The federal record around Forest River is light — 42 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (26), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Forest River?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Forest River's scale — its 4a band and its 164-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Forest River'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 Forest River’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Forest River's own scale — its own ~164-day season between 28°F freezes, the 321 acres it covers and 42 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Forest River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Forest River's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 9 and the ~164-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 42 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Forest River, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Forest River's boundary and the 321 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~164-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Forest River's own centroid, the Lake Agassiz PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Forest River's 321 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Walsh County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Walsh 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 Walsh County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Forest River's 321 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Forest River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 321 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Forest River-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Growing region