Colman, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Colman, 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 Colman 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 Colman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Colman — the short answer
Colman, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- 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 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Colman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Colman's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Colman
Each reading below is measured for Colman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredColman runs about 171 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
MeasuredColman 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 Colman is in
Colman sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Colman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Moody County.
What Grows in Colman
Every plant below cleared Colman's own zone 4b and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Colman?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 10 — 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 Colman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Colman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 106N50W15DACC2Nitrate · 550 ft
- 106N50W15DACCNitrate · 550 ft
- 34 STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- COLMAN MAIN SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- ROBERT MAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- T & R ELECTRIC SUPPLY CO., INC.Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- SIOUX VALLEY EMPIRE ELEC ASSNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- T & R SERVICE COMPANYBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- PRAIRIE JUNCTION TRUCK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- CROSSROADS TRUCK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- CLANDESTINE DRUG LABBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- SD DEPT OF TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Colman'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 Colman.
Total Sites
86
within ~10 miles of Colman
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Colman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Colman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Colman, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 60 sites within ~10 miles of Colman. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Colman
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 Colman average
Your land is one point inside Colman
Everything above resolves to Colman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Colman Average
Colman Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Colman
- ●One soil character for all of Colman
- ●Frost dates read at Colman's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Colman's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Colman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Colman, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Colman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Colman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Colman average
How we know this about Colman
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 Colman’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 Colman
When does frost risk typically end in Colman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Colman 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 Colman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Colman 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 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Colman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Colman sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Sep 26, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Colman?
The federal record around Colman shows 86 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (60), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Colman?
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 Colman's scale — its 4b band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Colman'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 Colman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Colman's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,206 acres it covers and 86 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Colman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Colman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 10 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 86 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Colman, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Colman's boundary and the 1,206 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Colman's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Colman's 1,206 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Moody County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Moody 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 Moody County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Colman's 1,206 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Colman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,206 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Colman-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across South DakotaColman sits outside our named growing regions, so South Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides