McGregor, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in McGregor, 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 McGregor 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 McGregor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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McGregor — the short answer
McGregor, North Dakota: USDA zone 3b, about 141 days between hard freezes, across 81 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~141
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 81 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 3b is McGregor's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against McGregor's 141-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in McGregor
Each reading below is measured for McGregor itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMcGregor runs about 141 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
MeasuredMcGregor sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 McGregor is in
McGregor sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at McGregor's own centroid rather than borrowed from Williams County.
What Grows in McGregor
Every plant below cleared McGregor's own zone 3b and its 141-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in McGregor?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 Sep 26 — 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 McGregor
Closest first, within ~10 miles of McGregor. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- McGregor StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- 159-095-15DDANitrate · 1100 ft
- 159-095-14CCANitrate · 1200 ft
- 159-095-14DCCNitrate · 0.6 mi
- 159-095-23DADNitrate · 1.4 mi
- 159-095-26CBBNitrate · 1.9 mi
- NORSE GAS PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 2.0 mi
- 160-095-34DDNitrate · 2.8 mi
- 159-94-20DCD1Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- 160-095-27AAD2Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- 160-095-27AAD1Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- Temple Gas PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from McGregor'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 McGregor.
Total Sites
43
within ~10 miles of McGregor
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of McGregor
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of McGregor
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around McGregor, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of McGregor. 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 McGregor
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 McGregor average
Your land is one point inside McGregor
Everything above resolves to McGregor as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 81 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 McGregor Average
McGregor Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across McGregor
- ●One soil character for all of McGregor
- ●Frost dates read at McGregor's scale: May 8 to Sep 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not McGregor's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in McGregor
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in McGregor, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that McGregor averages can't show:
We read public map data around McGregor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the McGregor average
How we know this about McGregor
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 McGregor’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 McGregor
When does frost risk typically end in McGregor?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in McGregor 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 McGregor?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in McGregor typically arrives around Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 12, so the watching starts about Aug 27 — about 141 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in McGregor?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, McGregor sees about 141 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Sep 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 12, about 106 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in McGregor?
The federal record around McGregor is light — 43 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (38), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in McGregor?
With about 141 frost-free days between hard freezes, McGregor 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 169 to 197 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 McGregor's scale — its 3b band and its 141-day season. Your yard writes its own version of McGregor'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 McGregor’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at McGregor's own scale — its own ~141-day season between 28°F freezes, the 81 acres it covers and 43 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- McGregor's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- McGregor's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Sep 26 and the ~141-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 43 documented contamination sites on the federal record near McGregor, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- McGregor's boundary and the 81 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~141-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at McGregor's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so McGregor's 81 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Williams County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Williams 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 Williams County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among McGregor's 81 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of McGregor you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 81 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 McGregor-wide figureread your own land →
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