Blackhawk, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Blackhawk, 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 Blackhawk 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 Blackhawk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Blackhawk — the short answer
Blackhawk, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- 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 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 5a is Blackhawk's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Blackhawk's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Blackhawk
Each reading below is measured for Blackhawk itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBlackhawk runs about 161 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
MeasuredBlackhawk 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 Blackhawk is in
Blackhawk sits in the Middle Rockies — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Blackhawk's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Meade County is mostly Northwestern Great Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Blackhawk
Every plant below cleared Blackhawk's own zone 5a and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Blackhawk?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 10 — 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 Blackhawk
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Blackhawk. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- RED ARROW CAMPING RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- COLLISION PROSBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- 002N06E01CCCD2Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 002N06E01CCCDNitrate · 0.9 mi
- 002N07E07ADABNitrate · 1.0 mi
- 002N07E08BBCNitrate · 1.1 mi
- 002N07E08BBCDNitrate · 1.2 mi
- BJ'S COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 002N07E08CCBCNitrate · 1.3 mi
- 1N 7E 3DCNitrate · 1.4 mi
- 003N07E31DCCCNitrate · 1.4 mi
- 003N07E31CBDDNitrate · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Blackhawk'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 Blackhawk.
Total Sites
714
within ~10 miles of Blackhawk
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Blackhawk
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Blackhawk
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Blackhawk, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 288 sites within ~10 miles of Blackhawk. 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 Blackhawk
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 Blackhawk average
Your land is one point inside Blackhawk
Everything above resolves to Blackhawk 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 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 Blackhawk Average
Blackhawk Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Blackhawk
- ●One soil character for all of Blackhawk
- ●Frost dates read at Blackhawk's scale: May 2 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Blackhawk's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Blackhawk
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Blackhawk, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Blackhawk averages can't show:
We read public map data around Blackhawk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Blackhawk average
How we know this about Blackhawk
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 Blackhawk’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 Blackhawk
When does frost risk typically end in Blackhawk?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Blackhawk 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 Blackhawk?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Blackhawk typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Blackhawk?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Blackhawk sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 26, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Blackhawk?
The federal record around Blackhawk is a meaningful one — 714 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (288), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Blackhawk?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Blackhawk's scale — its 5a band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Blackhawk'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 Blackhawk’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Blackhawk's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,032 acres it covers and 714 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Blackhawk's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Blackhawk's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 10 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 714 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Blackhawk, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Blackhawk's boundary and the 3,032 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Blackhawk sits in the Middle Rockies — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Blackhawk's 3,032 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Meade County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Meade 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 Meade County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Blackhawk's 3,032 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Blackhawk you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,032 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Blackhawk-wide figureread your own land →
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