Killdeer, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Killdeer, 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 Killdeer 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 Killdeer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Killdeer — the short answer
Killdeer, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Killdeer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Killdeer's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Killdeer
Each reading below is measured for Killdeer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKilldeer runs about 147 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredKilldeer 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 Killdeer is in
Killdeer sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Killdeer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dunn County.
What Grows in Killdeer
Every plant below cleared Killdeer's own zone 4a and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Killdeer?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Killdeer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Killdeer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Bishop Construction BuildingUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- 145-095-23ABBNitrate · 850 ft
- Dean Bender Chevrolet IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Farmers Union Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- JUJUs Pit StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 145-095-23AADNitrate · 1900 ft
- KILLDEER MOUNTAIN MANUFACTURING INCBrownfields · 1900 ft
- Schmidt Electric ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Western Choice CooperativeUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Killdeer Public School groundsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- North Dakota State Dept of TransportationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- TWIN FALLS OIL SERVICE LLCBrownfields · 2600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Killdeer'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 Killdeer.
Total Sites
175
within ~10 miles of Killdeer
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Killdeer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Killdeer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Killdeer, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 148 sites within ~10 miles of Killdeer. 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 Killdeer
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 Killdeer average
Your land is one point inside Killdeer
Everything above resolves to Killdeer as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Killdeer Average
Killdeer Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Killdeer
- ●One soil character for all of Killdeer
- ●Frost dates read at Killdeer's scale: May 8 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Killdeer's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Killdeer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Killdeer, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Killdeer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Killdeer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Killdeer average
How we know this about Killdeer
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 Killdeer’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 Killdeer
When does frost risk typically end in Killdeer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Killdeer typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Killdeer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Killdeer typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Killdeer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Killdeer sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 18, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Killdeer?
The federal record around Killdeer shows 175 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (148), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Killdeer?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Killdeer rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 8 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Killdeer's scale — its 4a band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Killdeer'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 Killdeer’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Killdeer's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,183 acres it covers and 175 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Killdeer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Killdeer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 2 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 175 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Killdeer, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Killdeer's boundary and the 1,183 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Killdeer's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Killdeer's 1,183 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dunn County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dunn 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 Dunn County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Killdeer's 1,183 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Killdeer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,183 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 Killdeer-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Growing region
Nearby growing guides