Mitchell, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Mitchell, 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 Mitchell 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 Mitchell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Mitchell — the short answer
Mitchell, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 184 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~184
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Mitchell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mitchell's 184-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mitchell
Each reading below is measured for Mitchell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMitchell runs about 184 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
MeasuredMitchell 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 Mitchell is in
Mitchell sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Mitchell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Davison County.
What Grows in Mitchell
Every plant below cleared Mitchell's own zone 5a and its 184-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mitchell?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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 Mitchell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mitchell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CROCKETT INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- TWIN CITY FAN COMPANIESToxics Release Inventory · 1700 ft
- TWIN CITY FAN COMPANIESBrownfields · 1700 ft
- MITCHELL CEMETARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- GOLF COURSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CHS FARMERS ALLIANCE; MITCHELLBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- NORTHSIDE SINCLAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- COBORN'S MITCHELL - 2025Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- COBORNS/LITTLE DUKESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CENEX TOWN & COUNTRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- MITCHELL FORDBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- NORTH MAIN 66Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mitchell'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 Mitchell.
Total Sites
175
within ~10 miles of Mitchell
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
16 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mitchell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mitchell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mitchell, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 16 sites within ~10 miles of Mitchell. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Mitchell
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 Mitchell average
Your land is one point inside Mitchell
Everything above resolves to Mitchell as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Mitchell Average
Mitchell Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Mitchell
- ●One soil character for all of Mitchell
- ●Frost dates read at Mitchell's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mitchell's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mitchell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mitchell, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mitchell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mitchell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mitchell average
How we know this about Mitchell
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 Mitchell’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 Mitchell
When does frost risk typically end in Mitchell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mitchell typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Mitchell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mitchell typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 184 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mitchell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mitchell sees about 184 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 5, about 149 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mitchell?
The federal record around Mitchell shows 175 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (75), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Mitchell?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mitchell's scale — its 5a band and its 184-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mitchell'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 Mitchell’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mitchell's own scale — its own ~184-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,389 acres it covers and 175 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mitchell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mitchell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 19 and the ~184-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 175 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mitchell, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mitchell's boundary and the 7,389 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~184-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mitchell's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mitchell's 7,389 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Davison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Davison 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 Davison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mitchell's 7,389 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mitchell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,389 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Mitchell-wide figureread your own land →