Ward, 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 Ward, 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 Ward 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 Ward — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ward — the short answer
Ward, South Dakota: USDA zone 4b, about 168 days between hard freezes, across 186 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~168
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 186 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 Ward's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ward's 168-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ward
Each reading below is measured for Ward itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWard runs about 168 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
MeasuredWard 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 Ward is in
Ward sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ward's own centroid rather than borrowed from Moody County.
What Grows in Ward
Every plant below cleared Ward's own zone 4b and its 168-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ward?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — 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 Ward
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ward. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 108N47W15CDCANitrate · 650 ft
- SCHROEDER SALES & SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- HIDEAWAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- 109N47W33DDDDNitrate · 2.9 mi
- 109N47W33CDDDNitrate · 3.0 mi
- 109N47W21CBDNitrate · 4.3 mi
- 107N48W01AAAANitrate · 4.5 mi
- 109N47W21BDDNitrate · 4.5 mi
- TWIN ROCK FAMILY FARMS, INCCAFO · 5.1 mi
- ELKTON SCHOOLBrownfields · 5.4 mi
- JAMES STUEFENUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- MYERS STANDARD SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ward'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 Ward.
Total Sites
95
within ~10 miles of Ward
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
11 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ward
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ward
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ward, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ward — CAFO (11 sites) and Nitrate (40 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Ward
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 Ward average
Your land is one point inside Ward
Everything above resolves to Ward as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 186 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 Ward Average
Ward Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Ward
- ●One soil character for all of Ward
- ●Frost dates read at Ward's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ward's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ward
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ward, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ward averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ward — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ward average
How we know this about Ward
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 Ward’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 Ward
When does frost risk typically end in Ward?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ward typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Ward?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ward typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 168 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ward?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ward sees about 168 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Sep 25, about 133 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ward?
The federal record around Ward shows 95 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (40), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Ward?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ward's scale — its 4b band and its 168-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ward'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 Ward’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ward's own scale — its own ~168-day season between 28°F freezes, the 186 acres it covers and 95 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ward's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ward's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 9 and the ~168-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 95 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ward, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ward's boundary and the 186 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~168-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ward's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ward's 186 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Moody County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Moody 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 Moody County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ward's 186 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ward you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 186 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Ward-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across South DakotaWard sits outside our named growing regions, so South Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides