Anderson, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Anderson, 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 Anderson 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 Anderson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Anderson — the short answer
Anderson, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 489 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 489 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 5a is Anderson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Anderson's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Anderson
Each reading below is measured for Anderson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAnderson runs about 175 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
MeasuredAnderson sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Anderson is in
Anderson sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Anderson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Minnehaha County.
What Grows in Anderson
Every plant below cleared Anderson's own zone 5a and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Anderson?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — 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 Anderson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Anderson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 101N48W28BAAANitrate · 0.9 mi
- BULLSEYE CUSTOM CABINETRY INCORPORATEDToxics Release Inventory · 1.6 mi
- BULLSEYE CUSTOM CABINETRY INCORPORATEDBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- JAY EGGE AUTOMATIC SERVICEBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- STOAKES TRUCKING KING INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- USGS - EROS DATA CENTERBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- LINCOLN COUNTY RURAL WATER SYSTEMPFAS · 2.1 mi
- SHERWIN-WILLIAMS #3414Brownfields · 2.3 mi
- SALLY BEAUTY SUPPLY #3486Brownfields · 2.3 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #17566Brownfields · 2.4 mi
- TARGET STORE T2540Brownfields · 2.4 mi
- 101N48W18ADAANitrate · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Anderson'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 Anderson.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Anderson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Anderson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Anderson, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 63 sites within ~10 miles of Anderson. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Anderson
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 Anderson average
Your land is one point inside Anderson
Everything above resolves to Anderson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 489 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 Anderson Average
Anderson Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Anderson
- ●One soil character for all of Anderson
- ●Frost dates read at Anderson's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Anderson's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Anderson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Anderson, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Anderson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Anderson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Anderson average
How we know this about Anderson
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 Anderson’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 Anderson
When does frost risk typically end in Anderson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Anderson typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Anderson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Anderson typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Anderson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Anderson sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Sep 30, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Anderson?
The federal record around Anderson is a meaningful one — 975 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (358), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.9 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 I protect my plants from frost in Anderson?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Anderson's scale — its 5a band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Anderson'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 Anderson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Anderson's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 489 acres it covers and 975 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Anderson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Anderson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 14 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 975 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Anderson, the closest Nitrate record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Anderson's boundary and the 489 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Anderson's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Anderson's 489 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Minnehaha County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Minnehaha 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 Minnehaha County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Anderson's 489 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Anderson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 489 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.9 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 Anderson-wide figureread your own land →