White Shield, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in White Shield, 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 White Shield 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 White Shield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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White Shield — the short answer
White Shield, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 158 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- 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 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~158
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 White Shield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against White Shield's 158-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in White Shield
Each reading below is measured for White Shield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWhite Shield runs about 158 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
MeasuredWhite Shield 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 White Shield is in
White Shield sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at White Shield's own centroid rather than borrowed from McLean County.
What Grows in White Shield
Every plant below cleared White Shield's own zone 4a and its 158-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in White Shield?
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 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 White Shield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of White Shield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BIA Roads (New Road Shop)Underground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- 148-088-02DDANitrate · 900 ft
- White Shield School Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- 148-088-02DDBNitrate · 1300 ft
- Y-B's Convenience StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- 1804 C StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- 149-087-32CCCNitrate · 1.0 mi
- Minot Air Force BaseUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- 148-087-07AAA1Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- 148-087-07AAA2Nitrate · 1.9 mi
- Rustad FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- 149-088-23DAANitrate · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from White Shield'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 White Shield.
Total Sites
74
within ~10 miles of White Shield
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
62 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of White Shield
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around White Shield, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 62 sites within ~10 miles of White Shield. 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 White Shield
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 White Shield average
Your land is one point inside White Shield
Everything above resolves to White Shield as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 White Shield Average
White Shield Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across White Shield
- ●One soil character for all of White Shield
- ●Frost dates read at White Shield's scale: May 2 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not White Shield's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in White Shield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in White Shield, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that White Shield averages can't show:
We read public map data around White Shield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the White Shield average
How we know this about White Shield
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 White Shield’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 White Shield
When does frost risk typically end in White Shield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in White Shield 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 White Shield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in White Shield 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 158 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in White Shield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, White Shield sees about 158 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 23, about 123 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in White Shield?
The federal record around White Shield shows 74 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (62), 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 White Shield?
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 White Shield's scale — its 4a band and its 158-day season. Your yard writes its own version of White Shield'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 White Shield’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at White Shield's own scale — its own ~158-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,429 acres it covers and 74 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- White Shield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- White Shield's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 7 and the ~158-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 74 documented contamination sites on the federal record near White Shield, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- White Shield's boundary and the 2,429 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~158-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at White Shield's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so White Shield's 2,429 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McLean County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McLean 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 McLean County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among White Shield's 2,429 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of White Shield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,429 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 White Shield-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaWhite Shield sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.