Mission, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Mission, 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 Mission 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 Mission — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mission — the short answer
Mission, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 376 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- 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
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 376 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 Mission's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mission's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mission
Each reading below is measured for Mission itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMission runs about 162 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
MeasuredMission 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 Mission is in
Mission sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Mission's own centroid rather than borrowed from Todd County.
What Grows in Mission
Every plant below cleared Mission's own zone 5a and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mission?
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 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Mission
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mission. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AMOCO FOOD SHOP #7Brownfields · 650 ft
- E-24Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- NAPA AUTO PARTSBrownfields · 1200 ft
- FARMERS COOP OIL ASSNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ED AND LARRY'S AUTOBrownfields · 1500 ft
- GAS `N' GITUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 38N28W 5ABDNitrate · 2200 ft
- 38N28W 5AACNitrate · 2200 ft
- EDWARD CHARBONNEAUUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- LITTLEBURG ELEMENTARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- RALPH'S BODY SHOP & WRECKER SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mission'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 Mission.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mission
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mission
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mission, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 34 sites within ~10 miles of Mission. 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 Mission
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 Mission average
Your land is one point inside Mission
Everything above resolves to Mission as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 376 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 Mission Average
Mission Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Mission
- ●One soil character for all of Mission
- ●Frost dates read at Mission's scale: May 2 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mission's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mission
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mission, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mission averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mission — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mission average
How we know this about Mission
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 Mission’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 Mission
When does frost risk typically end in Mission?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mission typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Mission?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mission 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 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mission?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mission sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 27, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mission?
The federal record around Mission shows 55 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (34), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Mission?
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 Mission's scale — its 5a band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mission'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 Mission’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mission's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 376 acres it covers and 55 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mission's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mission's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 11 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 55 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mission, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mission's boundary and the 376 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mission's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mission's 376 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Todd County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Todd 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 Todd County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mission's 376 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mission you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 376 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Mission-wide figureread your own land →
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