Shell Valley, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Shell Valley, 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 Shell Valley 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 Shell Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Shell Valley — the short answer
Shell Valley, North Dakota: USDA zone 3b, about 145 days between hard freezes, across 10K 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 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~145
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 10K 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 Shell Valley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Shell Valley's 145-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Shell Valley
Each reading below is measured for Shell Valley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredShell Valley runs about 145 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
MeasuredShell Valley 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 Shell Valley is in
Shell Valley sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Shell Valley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rolette County.
What Grows in Shell Valley
Every plant below cleared Shell Valley's own zone 3b and its 145-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Shell Valley?
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 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 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Shell Valley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Shell Valley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 162-071-36CBC2Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 161-071-03BCC2Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- TURTLE MOUNTAIN MANUFACTURING COMPANYBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- TURTLE MOUNTAIN MFG. COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 1.6 mi
- 161-071-04CCCNitrate · 2.5 mi
- 161-071-15BBA2 (NDSWC 94ST CR15)Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- 161-071-15BBANitrate · 2.5 mi
- 161-071-16AAB2Nitrate · 2.7 mi
- 161-071-16ABANitrate · 2.8 mi
- 161-071-09CCCNitrate · 3.1 mi
- Davis Service and Drive InnUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- 161-071-08DCDNitrate · 3.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Shell Valley'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 Shell Valley.
Total Sites
138
within ~10 miles of Shell Valley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Shell Valley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Shell Valley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Shell Valley, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 118 sites within ~10 miles of Shell Valley. 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 Shell Valley
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 Shell Valley average
Your land is one point inside Shell Valley
Everything above resolves to Shell Valley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 10K 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 Shell Valley Average
Shell Valley Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Shell Valley
- ●One soil character for all of Shell Valley
- ●Frost dates read at Shell Valley's scale: May 8 to Sep 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Shell Valley's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Shell Valley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Shell Valley, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Shell Valley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Shell Valley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Shell Valley average
How we know this about Shell Valley
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 Shell Valley’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 Shell Valley
When does frost risk typically end in Shell Valley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Shell Valley 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 Shell Valley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Shell Valley typically arrives around Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 16, so the watching starts about Aug 31 — about 145 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Shell Valley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Shell Valley sees about 145 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Sep 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 16, about 110 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Shell Valley?
The federal record around Shell Valley is a meaningful one — 138 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (118), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.8 miles 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 gardeners stretch the season in Shell Valley?
With about 145 frost-free days between hard freezes, Shell Valley 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 173 to 201 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 Shell Valley's scale — its 3b band and its 145-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Shell Valley'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 Shell Valley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Shell Valley's own scale — its own ~145-day season between 28°F freezes, the 9,601 acres it covers and 138 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Shell Valley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Shell Valley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Sep 30 and the ~145-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 138 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Shell Valley, the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Shell Valley's boundary and the 9,601 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~145-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Shell Valley's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Shell Valley's 9,601 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rolette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rolette 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 Rolette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Shell Valley's 9,601 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Shell Valley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,601 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 Shell Valley-wide figureread your own land →
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