Pick City, 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.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Pick City, 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 Pick City 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 Pick City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pick City — the short answer
Pick City, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 121 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 121 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 Pick City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pick City's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pick City
Each reading below is measured for Pick City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPick City runs about 157 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
MeasuredPick City 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 Pick City is in
Pick City sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Pick City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mercer County.
What Grows in Pick City
Every plant below cleared Pick City's own zone 4a and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pick City?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 Pick City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pick City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- West River Mutual Aid Tel CorporationUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- J and L AutomotiveUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- Scotts Bait and TackleUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Teresas Grocery and BakeryUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Captain Kits MarinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- GARRISON POWER PLANTBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- GARRISON DAM & LAKE SAKAKAWEASuperfund · 1.6 mi
- Garrison Dam National Fish HatcheryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- 146-084-08DBDNitrate · 3.4 mi
- 147-085-20DBD3Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- UNDERWOOD BODY SHOPBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- City of RiverdaleUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pick City'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 Pick City.
Total Sites
76
within ~10 miles of Pick City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pick City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pick City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pick City, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 46 sites within ~10 miles of Pick City. 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 Pick City
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 Pick City average
Your land is one point inside Pick City
Everything above resolves to Pick City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 121 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 Pick City Average
Pick City Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Pick City
- ●One soil character for all of Pick City
- ●Frost dates read at Pick City's scale: May 3 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pick City's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pick City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pick City, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pick City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pick City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pick City average
How we know this about Pick City
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 Pick City’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 Pick City
When does frost risk typically end in Pick City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pick City typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Pick City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pick City typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pick City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pick City sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 23, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pick City?
The federal record around Pick City is a meaningful one — 76 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (46), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Pick City?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Pick City's scale — its 4a band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pick City'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 Pick City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Pick City's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 121 acres it covers and 76 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pick City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pick City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 7 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 76 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pick City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pick City's boundary and the 121 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Pick City's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pick City's 121 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mercer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mercer 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 Mercer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pick City's 121 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pick City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 121 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 Pick City-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaPick City sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides