Milnor, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Milnor, 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 Milnor 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 Milnor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Milnor — the short answer
Milnor, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 641 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 641 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 Milnor's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Milnor's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Milnor
Each reading below is measured for Milnor itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMilnor runs about 169 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
MeasuredMilnor 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 Milnor is in
Milnor sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Milnor's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sargent County.
What Grows in Milnor
Every plant below cleared Milnor's own zone 4a and its 169-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Milnor?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Milnor
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Milnor. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Nelson Implement and ChevroletUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Farmers Union Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Lees Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- 132-054-09DACNitrate · 1600 ft
- 132-054-09DCANitrate · 1800 ft
- 132-054-09AADNitrate · 2500 ft
- Bison C StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Dakota Valley Electric Cooperative IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- 133-054-32AAANitrate · 3.0 mi
- 132-054-13ABBNitrate · 3.0 mi
- 133-054-32BBANitrate · 3.5 mi
- 132-054-31BAB1Nitrate · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Milnor'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 Milnor.
Total Sites
154
within ~10 miles of Milnor
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Milnor
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Milnor
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Milnor, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 142 sites within ~10 miles of Milnor. 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 Milnor
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 Milnor average
Your land is one point inside Milnor
Everything above resolves to Milnor as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 641 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 Milnor Average
Milnor Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Milnor
- ●One soil character for all of Milnor
- ●Frost dates read at Milnor's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Milnor's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Milnor
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Milnor, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Milnor averages can't show:
We read public map data around Milnor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Milnor average
How we know this about Milnor
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 Milnor’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 Milnor
When does frost risk typically end in Milnor?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Milnor typically lands around Apr 25, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Milnor?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Milnor typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Milnor?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Milnor sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Sep 27, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Milnor?
The federal record around Milnor shows 154 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (142), 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 Milnor?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Milnor's scale — its 4a band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Milnor'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 Milnor’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Milnor's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 641 acres it covers and 154 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Milnor's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Milnor's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 11 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 154 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Milnor, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Milnor's boundary and the 641 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Milnor's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Milnor's 641 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sargent County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sargent 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 Sargent County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Milnor's 641 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Milnor you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 641 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 Milnor-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaMilnor sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.