Spring Valley Colony, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Spring Valley 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 Spring Valley 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 Spring Valley Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Spring Valley Colony — the short answer
Spring Valley Colony, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 167 days between hard freezes, across 310 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- 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
- ~167
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 310 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 Spring Valley Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Spring Valley Colony's 167-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Spring Valley Colony
Each reading below is measured for Spring Valley Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSpring Valley Colony runs about 167 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
MeasuredSpring Valley 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 Spring Valley Colony is in
Spring Valley Colony sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Spring Valley Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jerauld County.
What Grows in Spring Valley Colony
Every plant below cleared Spring Valley Colony's own zone 4b and its 167-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Spring Valley 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 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (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. 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 Spring Valley Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Spring Valley Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 107N67W34CCCCNitrate · 1.4 mi
- 107N67W15DDDDNitrate · 2.5 mi
- 106N67W 7DAAANitrate · 3.0 mi
- 107N67W 8AADDNitrate · 3.7 mi
- 107N67W36DDDDNitrate · 3.8 mi
- 106N68W11AABANitrate · 4.2 mi
- 106N67W17CCCCNitrate · 4.3 mi
- 107N68W14BBBBNitrate · 5.0 mi
- KEN'S SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- BUFFALO COUNTY HIGHWAY SHOPBrownfields · 5.3 mi
- 107N68W33AANitrate · 5.4 mi
- 107N68W33ABADNitrate · 5.5 mi
5 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Spring Valley 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 Spring Valley Colony.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Spring Valley Colony
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Spring Valley Colony
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Spring Valley Colony, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 28 sites within ~10 miles of Spring Valley Colony. 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 Spring Valley 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 Spring Valley Colony average
Your land is one point inside Spring Valley Colony
Everything above resolves to Spring Valley Colony as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 310 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 Spring Valley Colony Average
Spring Valley Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Spring Valley Colony
- ●One soil character for all of Spring Valley Colony
- ●Frost dates read at Spring Valley Colony's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Spring Valley Colony's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Spring Valley Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Spring Valley Colony, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Spring Valley Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around Spring Valley Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Spring Valley Colony average
How we know this about Spring Valley 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 Spring Valley 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 Spring Valley Colony
When does frost risk typically end in Spring Valley Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Spring Valley Colony typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Spring Valley Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Spring Valley 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 167 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Spring Valley Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Spring Valley Colony sees about 167 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Sep 26, about 132 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Spring Valley Colony?
The federal record around Spring Valley Colony is light — 31 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (28), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.4 miles 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 Spring Valley 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 Spring Valley Colony's scale — its 4b band and its 167-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Spring Valley 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 Spring Valley Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Spring Valley Colony's own scale — its own ~167-day season between 28°F freezes, the 310 acres it covers and 31 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Spring Valley Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Spring Valley Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 10 and the ~167-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 31 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Spring Valley Colony, the closest Nitrate record about 1.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Spring Valley Colony's boundary and the 310 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~167-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Spring Valley Colony's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Spring Valley Colony's 310 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jerauld County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jerauld 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 Jerauld County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Spring Valley Colony's 310 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Spring Valley 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 310 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 Spring Valley Colony-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across South DakotaSpring Valley Colony sits outside our named growing regions, so South Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides