Carthage, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Carthage, 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 Carthage 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 Carthage — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Carthage — the short answer
Carthage, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 934 acres of city.
- 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 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 934 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 Carthage's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Carthage's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Carthage
Each reading below is measured for Carthage itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCarthage runs about 176 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
MeasuredCarthage 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 Carthage is in
Carthage sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Carthage's own centroid rather than borrowed from Miner County.
What Grows in Carthage
Every plant below cleared Carthage's own zone 5a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Carthage?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 15 — 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 Carthage
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Carthage. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 108N57W 7DCABNitrate · 2500 ft
- 108N57W 7DDBA2Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 108N57W 8CNitrate · 0.8 mi
- 108N58W24BBBBNitrate · 1.6 mi
- 109N57W28AABANitrate · 4.6 mi
- 108N58W33DDDDNitrate · 5.1 mi
- 108N58W33BBBBNitrate · 5.2 mi
- 108N59W13ADADNitrate · 6.5 mi
- 107N58W 6DDADNitrate · 7.1 mi
- 107N57W16DDDDNitrate · 7.1 mi
- 107N58W19BBBB (2)Nitrate · 8.4 mi
- 107N58W25DDABNitrate · 8.5 mi
3 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Carthage'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 Carthage.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Carthage
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Carthage, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 28 sites within ~10 miles of Carthage. 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 Carthage
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 Carthage average
Your land is one point inside Carthage
Everything above resolves to Carthage as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 934 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 city 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 Carthage Average
Carthage Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Carthage
- ●One soil character for all of Carthage
- ●Frost dates read at Carthage's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Carthage's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Carthage
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Carthage, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Carthage averages can't show:
We read public map data around Carthage — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Carthage average
How we know this about Carthage
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Carthage’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Carthage
When does frost risk typically end in Carthage?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Carthage 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 Carthage?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Carthage typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Carthage?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Carthage sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 1, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Carthage?
The federal record around Carthage is light — 29 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (28), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Carthage?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Carthage's scale — its 5a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Carthage'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 Carthage’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Carthage's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 934 acres it covers and 29 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Carthage's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Carthage's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 15 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 29 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Carthage, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Carthage's boundary and the 934 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Carthage's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Carthage's 934 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Miner County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Miner 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 Miner County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Carthage's 934 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Carthage you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 934 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Carthage-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across South DakotaCarthage sits outside our named growing regions, so South Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.