Conde, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Conde, 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 Conde 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 Conde — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Conde — the short answer
Conde, South Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 360 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 360 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 4a is Conde's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Conde's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Conde
Each reading below is measured for Conde itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredConde runs about 162 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
MeasuredConde sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Conde is in
Conde sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Conde's own centroid rather than borrowed from Spink County.
What Grows in Conde
Every plant below cleared Conde's own zone 4a and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Conde?
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 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 Conde
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Conde. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HEARNEN BROS TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- CONDE SCHOOL DIST 56-1Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- 120N60W32CACDNitrate · 900 ft
- 120N60W31CACCNitrate · 1900 ft
- GROTON FARMERS ELEVUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- HARVEYS SINCLAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 119N59W 6AAAANitrate · 6.4 mi
- 121N60W34DCDANitrate · 6.8 mi
- 121N60W27CCNitrate · 7.4 mi
- 119N59W17AABBNitrate · 7.6 mi
- 119N59W 9CCCANitrate · 7.8 mi
- 120N59W 5CCCCNitrate · 7.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Conde'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 Conde.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Conde
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Conde, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 30 sites within ~10 miles of Conde. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Conde
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 Conde average
Your land is one point inside Conde
Everything above resolves to Conde as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 360 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 Conde Average
Conde Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Conde
- ●One soil character for all of Conde
- ●Frost dates read at Conde's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Conde's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Conde
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Conde, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Conde averages can't show:
We read public map data around Conde — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Conde average
How we know this about Conde
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 Conde’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 Conde
When does frost risk typically end in Conde?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Conde typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Conde?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Conde typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Conde?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Conde sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 23, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Conde?
The federal record around Conde is light — 35 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (30), 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 I protect my plants from frost in Conde?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Conde's scale — its 4a band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Conde'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 Conde’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Conde's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 360 acres it covers and 35 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Conde's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Conde's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 7 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 35 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Conde, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Conde's boundary and the 360 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Conde's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Conde's 360 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Spink County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Spink 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 Spink County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Conde's 360 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Conde you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 360 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 Conde-wide figureread your own land →
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