Wakpala, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Wakpala, 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 Wakpala 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 Wakpala — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wakpala — the short answer
Wakpala, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 167 days between hard freezes, across 280 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- 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
- ~167
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 280 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 Wakpala's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wakpala's 167-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wakpala
Each reading below is measured for Wakpala itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWakpala 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
MeasuredWakpala 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 Wakpala is in
Wakpala sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wakpala's own centroid rather than borrowed from Corson County.
What Grows in Wakpala
Every plant below cleared Wakpala'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 Wakpala?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Wakpala
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wakpala. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 020N29E34BAAA2Nitrate · 400 ft
- FORMER BOSCH STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- SMEE SCHOOL DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- 020N29E34AABBNitrate · 1600 ft
- 019N29E01AANitrate · 2.6 mi
- 020N28E35BDNitrate · 5.1 mi
- SOUTH SIDE OF OAK CREEKUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- 020N28E16AAAANitrate · 7.1 mi
- FORMER ULMER STASTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.2 mi
- 125N79W22DAANitrate · 7.8 mi
- SD DEPT OF TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- CENTRAL DIESEL SALES INCBrownfields · 8.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wakpala'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 Wakpala.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wakpala
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wakpala
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wakpala, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 12 sites within ~10 miles of Wakpala. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Wakpala
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 Wakpala average
Your land is one point inside Wakpala
Everything above resolves to Wakpala as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 280 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 Wakpala Average
Wakpala Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Wakpala
- ●One soil character for all of Wakpala
- ●Frost dates read at Wakpala's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wakpala's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wakpala
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wakpala, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wakpala averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wakpala — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wakpala average
How we know this about Wakpala
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 Wakpala’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 Wakpala
When does frost risk typically end in Wakpala?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wakpala typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Wakpala?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wakpala 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 167 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wakpala?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wakpala sees about 167 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Sep 27, about 132 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wakpala?
The federal record around Wakpala is light — 37 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (20), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Wakpala?
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 Wakpala's scale — its 4b band and its 167-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wakpala'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 Wakpala’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wakpala's own scale — its own ~167-day season between 28°F freezes, the 280 acres it covers and 37 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wakpala's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wakpala's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 11 and the ~167-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 37 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wakpala, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wakpala's boundary and the 280 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 Wakpala's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wakpala's 280 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Corson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Corson 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 Corson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wakpala's 280 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wakpala you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 280 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Wakpala-wide figureread your own land →
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