Old Elm Spring Colony, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Old Elm Spring 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 Old Elm Spring 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 Old Elm Spring Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Old Elm Spring Colony — the short answer
Old Elm Spring Colony, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 624 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 624 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 Old Elm Spring Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Old Elm Spring Colony's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Old Elm Spring Colony
Each reading below is measured for Old Elm Spring Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOld Elm Spring Colony runs about 180 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
MeasuredOld Elm Spring Colony 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 Old Elm Spring Colony is in
Old Elm Spring Colony sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Old Elm Spring Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hutchinson County.
What Grows in Old Elm Spring Colony
Every plant below cleared Old Elm Spring Colony's own zone 5a and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Old Elm Spring Colony?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Old Elm Spring Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Old Elm Spring Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 101N58W25CCCCNitrate · 3.4 mi
- TSCHETTER COLONYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- 99N59W 1DBACNitrate · 5.2 mi
- 99N58W 6CCDNitrate · 6.0 mi
- 99N60W 1BBBCNitrate · 6.0 mi
- 99N59W11CCCCNitrate · 6.3 mi
- 99N60W 2ADAANitrate · 6.5 mi
- 101N57W17DCNitrate · 6.6 mi
- 101N58W 1DDNitrate · 6.8 mi
- STEVE LANGLEToxics Release Inventory · 6.8 mi
- 99N59W20AAAANitrate · 7.5 mi
- 99N60W13ADDDNitrate · 7.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Old Elm Spring 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 Old Elm Spring Colony.
Total Sites
48
within ~10 miles of Old Elm Spring Colony
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Old Elm Spring Colony
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Old Elm Spring Colony
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Old Elm Spring Colony, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Old Elm Spring Colony — Nitrate (40 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Old Elm Spring 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 Old Elm Spring Colony average
Your land is one point inside Old Elm Spring Colony
Everything above resolves to Old Elm Spring Colony as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 624 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 Old Elm Spring Colony Average
Old Elm Spring Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Old Elm Spring Colony
- ●One soil character for all of Old Elm Spring Colony
- ●Frost dates read at Old Elm Spring Colony's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Old Elm Spring Colony's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Old Elm Spring Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Old Elm Spring Colony, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Old Elm Spring Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around Old Elm Spring Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Old Elm Spring Colony average
How we know this about Old Elm Spring 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 Old Elm Spring 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 Old Elm Spring Colony
When does frost risk typically end in Old Elm Spring Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Old Elm Spring Colony typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Old Elm Spring Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Old Elm Spring Colony typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Old Elm Spring Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Old Elm Spring Colony sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 3, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Old Elm Spring Colony?
The federal record around Old Elm Spring Colony shows 48 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (40), the nearest Nitrate record about 3.4 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 Old Elm Spring Colony?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Old Elm Spring Colony's scale — its 5a band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Old Elm Spring 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 Old Elm Spring Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Old Elm Spring Colony's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 624 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Old Elm Spring Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Old Elm Spring Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 17 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Old Elm Spring Colony, the closest Nitrate record about 3.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Old Elm Spring Colony's boundary and the 624 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Old Elm Spring 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 Old Elm Spring Colony's 624 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hutchinson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hutchinson 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 Hutchinson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Old Elm Spring Colony's 624 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Old Elm Spring 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 624 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 3.4 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 Old Elm Spring Colony-wide figureread your own land →