Heil, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Heil, 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 Heil 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 Heil — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Heil — the short answer
Heil, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 153 days between hard freezes, across 128 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~153
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 128 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 Heil's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Heil's 153-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Heil
Each reading below is measured for Heil itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHeil runs about 153 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
MeasuredHeil 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 Heil is in
Heil sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Heil's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grant County.
What Grows in Heil
Every plant below cleared Heil's own zone 4a and its 153-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Heil?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — 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 Heil
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Heil. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 133-088-15ACBNitrate · 3.7 mi
- 133-088-14DAC1Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- Gunnys Bait and TackleUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- North Dakota State Dept of TransportationUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- Hanks ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- Jacobson Memorial Hospital Care CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- Prairie Pit StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.8 mi
- Elgin City ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
- Miller DistributingUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
- Grant Company NewsUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
- R and S SalesUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
- Wades StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Heil'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 Heil.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Heil
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Heil, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 22 sites within ~10 miles of Heil. 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 Heil
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 Heil average
Your land is one point inside Heil
Everything above resolves to Heil as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 128 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 Heil Average
Heil Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Heil
- ●One soil character for all of Heil
- ●Frost dates read at Heil's scale: May 5 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Heil's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Heil
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Heil, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Heil averages can't show:
We read public map data around Heil — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Heil average
How we know this about Heil
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 Heil’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 Heil
When does frost risk typically end in Heil?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Heil typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Heil?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Heil typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 153 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Heil?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Heil sees about 153 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 21, about 118 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Heil?
The federal record around Heil is light — 37 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (22), the nearest Nitrate record about 3.7 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 Heil?
From about Sep 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Heil's scale — its 4a band and its 153-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Heil'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 Heil’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Heil's own scale — its own ~153-day season between 28°F freezes, the 128 acres it covers and 37 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Heil's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Heil's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 5 and the ~153-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 37 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Heil, the closest Nitrate record about 3.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Heil's boundary and the 128 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~153-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Heil's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Heil's 128 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grant County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grant 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 Grant County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Heil's 128 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Heil you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 128 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 3.7 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 Heil-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaHeil sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides