Cambridge, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Cambridge, 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 Cambridge 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 Cambridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Cambridge — the short answer
Cambridge, Illinois: USDA zone 5b, about 198 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~198
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 5b is Cambridge's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cambridge's 198-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cambridge
Each reading below is measured for Cambridge itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCambridge runs about 198 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
MeasuredCambridge sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Cambridge is in
Cambridge sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cambridge's own centroid rather than borrowed from Henry County.
What Grows in Cambridge
Every plant below cleared Cambridge's own zone 5b and its 198-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cambridge?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Cambridge
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cambridge. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Kwik Shop, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- J & R Farm Ctr IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Van Dyke VirgilUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE 6381Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- Robbie Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Express Lane #82Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Cambridge Community Unit #227Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Henry County JailUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Drescher Pontiac IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Hutchcraft Chevrolet-BuickUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- GIARDINA AUTO GROUPBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- CAMBRIDGE COLLISION REVISIONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cambridge'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 Cambridge.
Total Sites
64
within ~10 miles of Cambridge
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cambridge
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cambridge
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cambridge, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 19 sites within ~10 miles of Cambridge. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Cambridge
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 Cambridge average
Your land is one point inside Cambridge
Everything above resolves to Cambridge as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Cambridge Average
Cambridge Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Cambridge
- ●One soil character for all of Cambridge
- ●Frost dates read at Cambridge's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cambridge's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cambridge
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cambridge, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cambridge averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cambridge — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cambridge average
How we know this about Cambridge
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 Cambridge’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 Cambridge
When does frost risk typically end in Cambridge?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cambridge typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Cambridge?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cambridge typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 198 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cambridge?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cambridge sees about 198 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 12, about 163 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cambridge?
The federal record around Cambridge shows 64 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (34), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Cambridge?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cambridge's scale — its 5b band and its 198-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cambridge'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 Cambridge’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cambridge's own scale — its own ~198-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,274 acres it covers and 64 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cambridge's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cambridge's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Oct 26 and the ~198-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 64 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cambridge, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cambridge's boundary and the 1,274 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~198-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cambridge's own centroid, the Central Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Cambridge's 1,274 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Henry County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Henry County
- The growing challenges every Illinois grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Illinois
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Henry County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cambridge's 1,274 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cambridge you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,274 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.6 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 Cambridge-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisCambridge sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides