Camp Crook, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Camp Crook, 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 Camp Crook 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 Camp Crook — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Camp Crook — the short answer
Camp Crook, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 89 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 89 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 Camp Crook's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Camp Crook's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Camp Crook
Each reading below is measured for Camp Crook itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCamp Crook runs about 149 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredCamp Crook 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 Camp Crook is in
Camp Crook sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Camp Crook's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harding County.
What Grows in Camp Crook
Every plant below cleared Camp Crook's own zone 4b and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Camp Crook?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Camp Crook
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Camp Crook. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- B & B SERVICE & REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- WBI WEST SHORT PINE HILLS COMPRESSOR STATIONBrownfields · 250 ft
- 18N 1E22DCCCNitrate · 3.3 mi
- 18N 1E23DCNitrate · 3.5 mi
- 18N 1E32DBCANitrate · 5.6 mi
- 17N 1E 5BABANitrate · 6.0 mi
- 20N 1E36BABANitrate · 7.7 mi
- 04S62E34DC 01Nitrate · 8.6 mi
Measured from Camp Crook'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 Camp Crook.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Camp Crook
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Camp Crook
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •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.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Camp Crook
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 Camp Crook average
Your land is one point inside Camp Crook
Everything above resolves to Camp Crook as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 89 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 Camp Crook Average
Camp Crook Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Camp Crook
- ●One soil character for all of Camp Crook
- ●Frost dates read at Camp Crook's scale: May 5 to Oct 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Camp Crook's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Camp Crook
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Camp Crook, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Camp Crook averages can't show:
We read public map data around Camp Crook — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Camp Crook average
How we know this about Camp Crook
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 Camp Crook’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 Camp Crook
When does frost risk typically end in Camp Crook?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Camp Crook typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Camp Crook?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Camp Crook typically arrives around Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 17, so the watching starts about Sep 1 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Camp Crook?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Camp Crook sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 17, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Camp Crook?
The federal record around Camp Crook is light — 14 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (12), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Camp Crook?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Camp Crook rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 5 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Camp Crook's scale — its 4b band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Camp Crook'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 Camp Crook’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Camp Crook's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 89 acres it covers and 14 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Camp Crook's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Camp Crook's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 1 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 14 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Camp Crook, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Camp Crook's boundary and the 89 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Camp Crook's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Camp Crook's 89 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harding County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harding 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 Harding County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Camp Crook's 89 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Camp Crook you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 89 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 Camp Crook-wide figureread your own land →
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