Valley City, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Valley 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 Valley 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 Valley City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Valley City — the short answer
Valley City, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 159 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~159
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Valley City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Valley City's 159-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Valley City
Each reading below is measured for Valley City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredValley City runs about 159 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
MeasuredValley 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 Valley City is in
Valley City sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Valley City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Barnes County.
What Grows in Valley City
Every plant below cleared Valley City's own zone 4a and its 159-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Valley 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 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Valley City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Valley City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Dans StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- BITZ TIRE SERVICE INCBrownfields · 650 ft
- Thrift-E-ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Leons Northwestern IndustriesUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Homan Feed and SeedUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Herbs ExxonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Old Sheyenne Tire and SportsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- US West CommunicationsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- VCSU Heat PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Valley Service LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- City of Valley CityUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- VALLEY CITY STATE UNIVERSITYBrownfields · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Valley 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 Valley City.
Total Sites
103
within ~10 miles of Valley City
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Valley City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Valley City
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Valley 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 Valley City average
Your land is one point inside Valley City
Everything above resolves to Valley City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Valley City Average
Valley City Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Valley City
- ●One soil character for all of Valley City
- ●Frost dates read at Valley City's scale: May 2 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Valley City's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Valley City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Valley City, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Valley City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Valley City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Valley City average
How we know this about Valley 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 Valley 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 Valley City
When does frost risk typically end in Valley City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Valley City typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Valley City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Valley City typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 159 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Valley City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Valley City sees about 159 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 24, about 124 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Valley City?
The federal record around Valley City shows 103 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (58), 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 Valley City?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Valley City's scale — its 4a band and its 159-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Valley 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 Valley City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Valley City's own scale — its own ~159-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,749 acres it covers and 103 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Valley City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Valley City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 8 and the ~159-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 103 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Valley City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Valley City's boundary and the 2,749 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~159-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Valley City's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Valley City's 2,749 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Barnes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Barnes 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 Barnes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Valley City's 2,749 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Valley 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 2,749 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 Valley City-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaValley City sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides