Lisbon, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Lisbon, 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 Lisbon 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 Lisbon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Lisbon — the short answer
Lisbon, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 164 days between hard freezes, across 1K 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
- 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 Lisbon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lisbon's 164-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lisbon
Each reading below is measured for Lisbon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLisbon 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
MeasuredLisbon 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 Lisbon is in
Lisbon sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Lisbon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ransom County.
What Grows in Lisbon
Every plant below cleared Lisbon'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 Lisbon?
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 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 Lisbon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lisbon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- J T Homan MotorsUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Main St Farm and HomeUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Ransom County ImplementUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- 134-056-11AAD1Nitrate · 900 ft
- 134-056-11AAD2Nitrate · 900 ft
- Lisbon Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Gordys Grill and FillUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- US West CommunicationsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Gas PlusUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- City of LisbonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Caseys General Store 3627Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- NDARNG - LISBON ARMORYBrownfields · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lisbon'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 Lisbon.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lisbon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lisbon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lisbon, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 86 sites within ~10 miles of Lisbon. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Lisbon
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 Lisbon average
Your land is one point inside Lisbon
Everything above resolves to Lisbon 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 Lisbon Average
Lisbon Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Lisbon
- ●One soil character for all of Lisbon
- ●Frost dates read at Lisbon's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lisbon's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lisbon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lisbon, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lisbon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lisbon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lisbon average
How we know this about Lisbon
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 Lisbon’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 Lisbon
When does frost risk typically end in Lisbon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lisbon 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 Lisbon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lisbon 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 Lisbon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lisbon 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 Lisbon?
The federal record around Lisbon shows 111 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (86), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 I protect my plants from frost in Lisbon?
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 Lisbon's scale — its 4a band and its 164-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lisbon'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 Lisbon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lisbon's own scale — its own ~164-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,468 acres it covers and 111 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lisbon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lisbon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 9 and the ~164-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 111 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lisbon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lisbon's boundary and the 1,468 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 Lisbon's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lisbon's 1,468 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 Lisbon's 1,468 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lisbon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,468 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 Lisbon-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaLisbon sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides