Littleton, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Littleton, 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 Littleton 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 Littleton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Littleton — the short answer
Littleton, Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 210 days between hard freezes, across 748 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~210
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 748 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 6a is Littleton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Littleton's 210-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Littleton
Each reading below is measured for Littleton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLittleton runs about 210 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLittleton sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Littleton is in
Littleton sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Littleton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Schuyler County.
What Grows in Littleton
Every plant below cleared Littleton's own zone 6a and its 210-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Littleton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
What's on the federal record near Littleton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Littleton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Littleton Elevator IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Littleton Township GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Henry GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- Runkles Fert SerUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- CCPS TRANSPORTATION LLCBrownfields · 5.6 mi
- Industry Township OfUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.3 mi
- Russell Grain IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.4 mi
- INDUSTRY MINEToxics Release Inventory · 6.5 mi
- THOMS AUTO BODYBrownfields · 6.5 mi
- Willey Oil IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- Suzy Q's StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- Arthur Ring & Sons IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Littleton'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 Littleton.
Total Sites
45
within ~10 miles of Littleton
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Littleton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Littleton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Littleton, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 32 sites within ~10 miles of Littleton. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Littleton
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 Littleton average
Your land is one point inside Littleton
Everything above resolves to Littleton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 748 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 Littleton Average
Littleton Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Littleton
- ●One soil character for all of Littleton
- ●Frost dates read at Littleton's scale: Apr 3 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Littleton's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Littleton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Littleton, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Littleton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Littleton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Littleton average
How we know this about Littleton
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 Littleton’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 Littleton
When does frost risk typically end in Littleton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Littleton typically lands around Apr 3, 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 Apr 24.
When is the first frost in Littleton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Littleton typically arrives around Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 16, so the watching starts about Sep 30 — about 210 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Littleton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Littleton sees about 210 frost-free days — roughly Apr 3 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 24 to Oct 16, about 175 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Littleton?
The federal record around Littleton is light — 45 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (32), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Littleton?
From about Sep 30 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Littleton's scale — its 6a band and its 210-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Littleton'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 Littleton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Littleton's own scale — its own ~210-day season between 28°F freezes, the 748 acres it covers and 45 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Littleton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Littleton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 3 and Oct 30 and the ~210-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 45 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Littleton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Littleton's boundary and the 748 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~210-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Littleton's own centroid, the Interior River Valleys and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Littleton's 748 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Schuyler County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Schuyler 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 Schuyler County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Littleton's 748 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Littleton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 748 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Littleton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisLittleton sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides