Riverside Colony, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Riverside 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 Riverside 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 Riverside Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Riverside Colony — the short answer
Riverside Colony, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 492 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 492 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 Riverside Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Riverside Colony's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Riverside Colony
Each reading below is measured for Riverside Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRiverside Colony runs about 171 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
MeasuredRiverside Colony 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 Riverside Colony is in
Riverside Colony sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Riverside Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from Beadle County.
What Grows in Riverside Colony
Every plant below cleared Riverside Colony's own zone 4b and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Riverside Colony?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Riverside Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Riverside Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 112N61W33DBAANitrate · 1.4 mi
- 112N61W14CDCD2Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 112N61W14CDCDNitrate · 1.7 mi
- 112N61W33BBBNitrate · 1.8 mi
- 112N61W25AACCNitrate · 2.0 mi
- 112N60W30CCBBNitrate · 2.2 mi
- 111N61W 5AANitrate · 2.4 mi
- 111N61W11BBBB (3)Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- 111N61W11BBBB (2)Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- 111N61W12DADDNitrate · 3.8 mi
- 112N61W 1CCCCNitrate · 3.8 mi
- 112N60W 7AAAANitrate · 4.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Riverside 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 Riverside Colony.
Total Sites
208
within ~10 miles of Riverside Colony
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
15 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Riverside Colony
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Riverside Colony
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Riverside Colony, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Riverside Colony — Nitrate (104 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (15 sites). 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.
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 Riverside 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 Riverside Colony average
Your land is one point inside Riverside Colony
Everything above resolves to Riverside Colony as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 492 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 Riverside Colony Average
Riverside Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Riverside Colony
- ●One soil character for all of Riverside Colony
- ●Frost dates read at Riverside Colony's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Riverside Colony's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Riverside Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Riverside Colony, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Riverside Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around Riverside Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Riverside Colony average
How we know this about Riverside 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 Riverside 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 Riverside Colony
When does frost risk typically end in Riverside Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Riverside Colony typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Riverside Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Riverside Colony typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Riverside Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Riverside Colony sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Sep 26, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Riverside Colony?
The federal record around Riverside Colony is a meaningful one — 208 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (104), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.4 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Riverside Colony?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Riverside Colony's scale — its 4b band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Riverside 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 Riverside Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Riverside Colony's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 492 acres it covers and 208 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Riverside Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Riverside Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 10 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 208 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Riverside Colony, the closest Nitrate record about 1.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Riverside Colony's boundary and the 492 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Riverside 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 Riverside Colony's 492 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Beadle County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Beadle 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 Beadle County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Riverside Colony's 492 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Riverside 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 492 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.4 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 Riverside Colony-wide figureread your own land →
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