Jackson County, in South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Jackson County lies within the West River — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Jackson County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Jackson County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Jackson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Jackson County — the short answer
Jackson County, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 168 days between hard freezes, across 1.2M acres.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~168
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 1.2M acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Jackson County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Jackson County's 168-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Jackson County
Across a year, Jackson County accumulates about 2,665 growing degree days above 50°F, about 239 more than the middle South Dakota county — ahead of 52 of South Dakota’s 66 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Jackson County
Across Jackson County, the ground is predominantly Mollisols, where Pierre, Kadoka, and Samsil are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 7.0–7.7, neutral. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Mollisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
0%
Hydric soils
0%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Jackson County
The USDA soil survey maps 90% of Jackson County as well drained — but another 10% drains differently: 4% excessively drained, 4% somewhat excessively drained.
Pierre is the most extensive named soil at 9% of mapped acres, then Kadoka (9%) and Samsil (6%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Jackson County
Each reading below is measured for Jackson County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Jackson County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Jackson County runs about pH 7.0–7.7, on the alkaline side.
Many vegetables cope, but acid-lovers like blueberries struggle, and iron and manganese lock up above about pH 7.5 — leaves yellow between the veins even in rich soil.
Elemental sulfur and generous organic matter lower pH slowly for the beds that need it; test first so you add only what the soil actually calls for.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredJackson County runs about 168 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
MeasuredJackson County 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 Jackson County is in
Jackson County sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Jackson County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Jackson County's own USDA zone 5a and its own 168-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile.
Is it too late to plant in Jackson County?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What gets applied to farmland in Jackson County
USGS estimates 94,531 lb of Glyphosate on Jackson County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (13,319 lb) and Metolachlor-s (12,576 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Jackson County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Jackson County — 80 documented sites across 4 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Toxics Release Inventory facility. Active industrial facilities reporting chemical releases to air, water, and land.
The federal record across Jackson County is a modest one — a typical footprint for a growing area. Nothing here calls for alarm; it's worth knowing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and each one on the map carries its type and location. If one turns out to be a near neighbor, a one-time soil test settles the question.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Jackson County
Closest first, across Jackson County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 43N36W24BDNitrate · 3.7 mi
- 43N36W 2DCNitrate · 4.3 mi
- 43N36W12ADNitrate · 4.9 mi
- 43N35W 5DBNitrate · 6.8 mi
- WANBLEE MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- 42N35W 4CANitrate · 7.1 mi
- 42N36W31CBNitrate · 7.7 mi
- CRAZY HORSE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- BIA LAW ENFORCEMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.0 mi
- WANBLEE CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.6 mi
- SD DOT MAINTENANCE SHOP - KADOKABrownfields · 11.0 mi
- E-6Underground Storage Tanks · 11.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Jackson County'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 Jackson County.
Total Sites
80
across Jackson County
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
across Jackson County
Severity Distribution
across Jackson County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Jackson County, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 40 sites across Jackson County. 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 Jackson County
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 Jackson County average
Your land is one point inside Jackson County
Everything above resolves to Jackson County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 1.2M 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Jackson County Average
Jackson County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Jackson County
- ●One soil character for all of Jackson County
- ●Frost dates read at Jackson County's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Jackson County's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Jackson County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Jackson County, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Jackson County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Jackson County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Jackson County average
How we know this about Jackson County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Jackson County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Jackson County
When does frost risk typically end in Jackson County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Jackson County typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
How long is the growing season in Jackson County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Jackson County sees about 168 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 30, about 133 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Jackson County?
The federal record around Jackson County shows 80 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (40), the nearest Nitrate record about 3.7 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.
Everything above is measured at Jackson County's scale — its 5a band and its 168-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Jackson County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads South Dakota's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Jackson County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Jackson County's own scale — its own ~168-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 80 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Jackson County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Jackson County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~168-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Jackson CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 80 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Nitrate record about 3.7 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Jackson County's boundary and the 1,192,884 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~168-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Jackson County sitting wholly inside the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Jackson County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every South Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Dakota
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Jackson County — the ~168 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Jackson County's 1,192,884 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 80 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Jackson Countyread your own land →