Martin, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Martin, 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 Martin 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 Martin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Martin — the short answer
Martin, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 160 days between hard freezes, across 358 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~160
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 358 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 5a is Martin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Martin's 160-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Martin
Each reading below is measured for Martin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMartin runs about 160 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
MeasuredMartin 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 Martin is in
Martin sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Martin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bennett County.
What Grows in Martin
Every plant below cleared Martin's own zone 5a and its 160-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Martin?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Martin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Martin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- IRELAND BROS FARM HDQTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- AMERICAN LEGION POST # 240Underground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- 37N37W17CCBBNitrate · 250 ft
- YESWAY 1180Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- 37N37W17CBCBNitrate · 1200 ft
- LYNN'S DAKOTAMARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- ASA L HICKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- 4-U CENTRAL ELEMENTARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- WILLARD KUXHAUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- FARMERS SPRAYING SERVICE INC.Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- BLY W ROUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- MUELLERS FEED MILL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Martin'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 Martin.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Martin
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Martin, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Martin. 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 Martin
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 Martin average
Your land is one point inside Martin
Everything above resolves to Martin as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 358 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 Martin Average
Martin Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Martin
- ●One soil character for all of Martin
- ●Frost dates read at Martin's scale: May 4 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Martin's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Martin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Martin, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Martin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Martin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Martin average
How we know this about Martin
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 Martin’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 Martin
When does frost risk typically end in Martin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Martin typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Martin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Martin typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 160 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Martin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Martin sees about 160 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 27, about 125 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Martin?
The federal record around Martin is light — 46 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (26), 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 Martin?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Martin's scale — its 5a band and its 160-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Martin'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 Martin’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Martin's own scale — its own ~160-day season between 28°F freezes, the 358 acres it covers and 46 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Martin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Martin's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 11 and the ~160-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 46 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Martin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Martin's boundary and the 358 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~160-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Martin's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Martin's 358 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bennett County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bennett 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 Bennett County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Martin's 358 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Martin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 358 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 Martin-wide figureread your own land →
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