Fullerton, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fullerton, 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 Fullerton 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 Fullerton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Fullerton — the short answer
Fullerton, North Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 250 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- 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
- City area
- 250 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 4b is Fullerton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fullerton's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fullerton
Each reading below is measured for Fullerton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFullerton 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
MeasuredFullerton sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Fullerton is in
Fullerton sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Fullerton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dickey County.
What Grows in Fullerton
Every plant below cleared Fullerton's own zone 4b and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fullerton?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Fullerton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fullerton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Marks Standard ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 50 ft
- 131-062-15ACBNitrate · 1000 ft
- 131-062-26AAA2Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- 131-062-34BBANitrate · 2.6 mi
- 131-062-24DDD1Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- 131-062-24DDD2Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- 131-061-29BBB2Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 131-062-30DCCNitrate · 4.0 mi
- 132-062-23DDDNitrate · 4.6 mi
- 130-062-10DDDNitrate · 5.5 mi
- 132-061-29BBB2Nitrate · 5.5 mi
- 131-063-11CCDNitrate · 5.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fullerton'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 Fullerton.
Total Sites
100
within ~10 miles of Fullerton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
96 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fullerton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fullerton, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 96 sites within ~10 miles of Fullerton. 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 Fullerton
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 Fullerton average
Your land is one point inside Fullerton
Everything above resolves to Fullerton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 250 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 Fullerton Average
Fullerton Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Fullerton
- ●One soil character for all of Fullerton
- ●Frost dates read at Fullerton's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fullerton's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fullerton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fullerton, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fullerton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fullerton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fullerton average
How we know this about Fullerton
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 Fullerton’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 Fullerton
When does frost risk typically end in Fullerton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fullerton 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 Fullerton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fullerton 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 Fullerton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fullerton 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 Fullerton?
The federal record around Fullerton shows 100 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (96), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Fullerton?
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 Fullerton's scale — its 4b band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fullerton'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 Fullerton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fullerton's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 250 acres it covers and 100 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fullerton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fullerton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 10 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 100 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fullerton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fullerton's boundary and the 250 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fullerton's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fullerton's 250 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dickey County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dickey 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 Dickey County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fullerton's 250 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fullerton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 250 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Fullerton-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaFullerton sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.