Howard, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Howard, 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 Howard 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 Howard — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Howard — the short answer
Howard, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 618 acres of city.
- 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 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 618 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 Howard's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Howard's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Howard
Each reading below is measured for Howard itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHoward runs about 173 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
MeasuredHoward 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 Howard is in
Howard sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Howard's own centroid rather than borrowed from Miner County.
What Grows in Howard
Every plant below cleared Howard's own zone 4b and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Howard?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 13 — 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's on the federal record near Howard
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Howard. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HOFFMAN BROS CONSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- MINER CO HWY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- LEOS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- NORMS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- R. DEAN SHERMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 106N56W 2CDDCNitrate · 1400 ft
- CORNER PANTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 106N56W 2DBBB (2)Nitrate · 1800 ft
- 106N56W 2 (2)Nitrate · 1800 ft
- BROADWIND SERVICES, LLCBrownfields · 2000 ft
- HOWARD SCHOOL BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- FARMERS UNION OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Howard'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 Howard.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Howard
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Howard
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Howard, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Howard. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Howard
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 Howard average
Your land is one point inside Howard
Everything above resolves to Howard as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 618 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 Howard Average
Howard Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Howard
- ●One soil character for all of Howard
- ●Frost dates read at Howard's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Howard's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Howard
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Howard, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Howard averages can't show:
We read public map data around Howard — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Howard average
How we know this about Howard
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 Howard’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 Howard
When does frost risk typically end in Howard?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Howard 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 Howard?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Howard 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 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Howard?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Howard sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Sep 29, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Howard?
The federal record around Howard shows 56 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (40), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Howard?
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 Howard's scale — its 4b band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Howard'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 Howard’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Howard's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 618 acres it covers and 56 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Howard's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Howard's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 13 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 56 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Howard, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Howard's boundary and the 618 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Howard's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Howard's 618 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Miner County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Miner 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 Miner County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Howard's 618 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Howard you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 618 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Howard-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across South DakotaHoward sits outside our named growing regions, so South Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides