Enemy Swim, 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 Enemy Swim, 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 Enemy Swim 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 Enemy Swim — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Enemy Swim — the short answer
Enemy Swim, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 598 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- 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
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 598 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 Enemy Swim's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Enemy Swim's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Enemy Swim
Each reading below is measured for Enemy Swim itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEnemy Swim runs about 175 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
MeasuredEnemy Swim 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 Enemy Swim is in
Enemy Swim sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Enemy Swim's own centroid rather than borrowed from Day County.
What Grows in Enemy Swim
Every plant below cleared Enemy Swim's own zone 4b and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Enemy Swim?
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 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Enemy Swim
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Enemy Swim. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 123N53W16DDDB RNitrate · 800 ft
- 123N53W16DDDB2 RNitrate · 800 ft
- 123N53W21AAA RNitrate · 850 ft
- 123N53W16DDDD RNitrate · 1000 ft
- 123N53W15C RNitrate · 1300 ft
- 123N53W 9DADC RNitrate · 1.2 mi
- WAUBAY NTL WILDLIFE REFUGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 123N53W26AAAD2 RNitrate · 2.2 mi
- 123N53W24CABA RNitrate · 2.4 mi
- 123N53W13BDAA RNitrate · 2.5 mi
- 123N53W 1BCCB RNitrate · 3.2 mi
- 123N52W19BABA RNitrate · 3.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Enemy Swim'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 Enemy Swim.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Enemy Swim
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Enemy Swim
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Enemy Swim, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 116 sites within ~10 miles of Enemy Swim. 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 Enemy Swim
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 Enemy Swim average
Your land is one point inside Enemy Swim
Everything above resolves to Enemy Swim as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 598 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 Enemy Swim Average
Enemy Swim Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Enemy Swim
- ●One soil character for all of Enemy Swim
- ●Frost dates read at Enemy Swim's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Enemy Swim's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Enemy Swim
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Enemy Swim, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Enemy Swim averages can't show:
We read public map data around Enemy Swim — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Enemy Swim average
How we know this about Enemy Swim
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 Enemy Swim’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 Enemy Swim
When does frost risk typically end in Enemy Swim?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Enemy Swim typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Enemy Swim?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Enemy Swim 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 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Enemy Swim?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Enemy Swim sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 1, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Enemy Swim?
The federal record around Enemy Swim shows 128 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (116), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Enemy Swim?
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 Enemy Swim's scale — its 4b band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Enemy Swim'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 Enemy Swim’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Enemy Swim's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 598 acres it covers and 128 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Enemy Swim's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Enemy Swim's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 15 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 128 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Enemy Swim, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Enemy Swim's boundary and the 598 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Enemy Swim's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Enemy Swim's 598 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Day County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Day 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 Day County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Enemy Swim's 598 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Enemy Swim you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 598 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Enemy Swim-wide figureread your own land →