Graceville Colony, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Graceville Colony, 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 Graceville Colony 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 Graceville Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Graceville Colony — the short answer
Graceville Colony, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 292 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 292 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 Graceville Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Graceville Colony's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Graceville Colony
Each reading below is measured for Graceville Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGraceville Colony 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
MeasuredGraceville Colony 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 Graceville Colony is in
Graceville Colony sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Graceville Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lake County.
What Grows in Graceville Colony
Every plant below cleared Graceville Colony'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 Graceville Colony?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — 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 Graceville Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Graceville Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 105N54W14BBBBNitrate · 1.6 mi
- 105N55W 1AAAANitrate · 4.3 mi
- 105N53W31BBBBNitrate · 4.9 mi
- 106N54W 9CCCCNitrate · 5.0 mi
- 106N52W 8DDDD (3)Nitrate · 5.1 mi
- LAKE COUNTY INTERNATIONAL INC.Brownfields · 5.6 mi
- DOUBLE T TRUCKSTOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.8 mi
- 106N54W 7CADA2Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 106N54W 7CADANitrate · 6.1 mi
- 106N54W 7CACANitrate · 6.2 mi
- LAKE HERMAN STATE PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- JAKE'S CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Graceville Colony'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 Graceville Colony.
Total Sites
67
within ~10 miles of Graceville Colony
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Graceville Colony
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Graceville Colony
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Graceville Colony, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Graceville Colony — Nitrate (26 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (6 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Graceville Colony
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 Graceville Colony average
Your land is one point inside Graceville Colony
Everything above resolves to Graceville Colony as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 292 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 Graceville Colony Average
Graceville Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Graceville Colony
- ●One soil character for all of Graceville Colony
- ●Frost dates read at Graceville Colony's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Graceville Colony's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Graceville Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Graceville Colony, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Graceville Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around Graceville Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Graceville Colony average
How we know this about Graceville Colony
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 Graceville Colony’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 Graceville Colony
When does frost risk typically end in Graceville Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Graceville Colony typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Graceville Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Graceville Colony typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Graceville Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Graceville Colony sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Sep 29, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Graceville Colony?
The federal record around Graceville Colony shows 67 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (26), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.6 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 Graceville Colony?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Graceville Colony's scale — its 4b band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Graceville Colony'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 Graceville Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Graceville Colony's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 292 acres it covers and 67 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Graceville Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Graceville Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 13 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 67 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Graceville Colony, the closest Nitrate record about 1.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Graceville Colony's boundary and the 292 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 Graceville Colony's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Graceville Colony's 292 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lake County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lake 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 Lake County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Graceville Colony's 292 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Graceville Colony you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 292 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.6 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 Graceville Colony-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across South DakotaGraceville Colony sits outside our named growing regions, so South Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides