Albee, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Albee, 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 Albee 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 Albee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Albee — the short answer
Albee, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 172 days between hard freezes, across 84 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~172
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 84 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 4b is Albee's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Albee's 172-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Albee
Each reading below is measured for Albee itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAlbee runs about 172 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
MeasuredAlbee sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Albee is in
Albee sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Albee's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grant County.
What Grows in Albee
Every plant below cleared Albee's own zone 4b and its 172-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Albee?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 Albee
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Albee. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DOUG WOLLSCHLAGERToxics Release Inventory · 1.8 mi
- 118N48W12DDDDNitrate · 2.1 mi
- GRANT-DEUEL SCHOOL DISTRICT 25-3Brownfields · 2.1 mi
- SCHMIEDING GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- 118N48W22BDBCNitrate · 2.6 mi
- VICTORY FARMS RENEWABLE ENERGYBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- GRANT-DEUEL PUBLIC SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- 119N48W24AAAA (2)Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- 124N46W31CBD 01 James AtheyNitrate · 4.5 mi
- LABOLT MINI MALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- 524162Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- 117N48W10DDDDNitrate · 7.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Albee'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 Albee.
Total Sites
32
within ~10 miles of Albee
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Albee
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Albee
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Albee, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Albee — Nitrate (18 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Albee
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 Albee average
Your land is one point inside Albee
Everything above resolves to Albee as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 84 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 Albee Average
Albee Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Albee
- ●One soil character for all of Albee
- ●Frost dates read at Albee's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Albee's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Albee
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Albee, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Albee averages can't show:
We read public map data around Albee — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Albee average
How we know this about Albee
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 Albee’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 Albee
When does frost risk typically end in Albee?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Albee typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Albee?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Albee typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 172 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Albee?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Albee sees about 172 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Sep 28, about 137 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Albee?
The federal record around Albee is light — 32 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (18), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.8 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Albee?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Albee's scale — its 4b band and its 172-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Albee'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 Albee’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Albee's own scale — its own ~172-day season between 28°F freezes, the 84 acres it covers and 32 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Albee's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Albee's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 12 and the ~172-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 32 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Albee, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Albee's boundary and the 84 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~172-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Albee's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Albee's 84 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grant County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grant County
- The growing challenges every South Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Dakota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Grant County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Albee's 84 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Albee you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 84 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 1.8 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 Albee-wide figureread your own land →