Loda, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Loda, 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 Loda 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 Loda — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Loda — the short answer
Loda, Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 939 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 939 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 Loda's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Loda's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Loda
Each reading below is measured for Loda itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLoda runs about 197 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
MeasuredLoda 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 Loda is in
Loda sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Loda's own centroid rather than borrowed from Iroquois County.
What Grows in Loda
Every plant below cleared Loda's own zone 6a and its 197-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Loda?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — 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 Loda
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Loda. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Loda Big Mart, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Wall Township OfUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Lake Iroquois AssociationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Illinois Central RailroadUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Meats PlusUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Hi Grade Egg Producers & ProcessUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- PIONEER PORK, LLC. (FOR-C PORK FARMS)CAFO · 2.1 mi
- BIRKEYS FARM STOREBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- Birkeys Farm Store IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- SWITCHCRAFT INC - SORENSEN CO DIVISIONBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- Paxton-Buckley-Loda Scl Bus ShedUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- A & M Gas & ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Loda'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 Loda.
Total Sites
81
within ~10 miles of Loda
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Loda
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Loda
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Loda, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Loda — CAFO (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (55 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Loda
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 Loda average
Your land is one point inside Loda
Everything above resolves to Loda as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 939 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 Loda Average
Loda Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Loda
- ●One soil character for all of Loda
- ●Frost dates read at Loda's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Loda's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Loda
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Loda, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Loda averages can't show:
We read public map data around Loda — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Loda average
How we know this about Loda
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 Loda’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 Loda
When does frost risk typically end in Loda?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Loda typically lands around Apr 10, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Loda?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Loda typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 197 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Loda?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Loda sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 10, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Loda?
The federal record around Loda shows 81 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (55), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Loda?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Loda's scale — its 6a band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Loda'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 Loda’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Loda's own scale — its own ~197-day season between 28°F freezes, the 939 acres it covers and 81 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Loda's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Loda's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 24 and the ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 81 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Loda, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Loda's boundary and the 939 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~197-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Loda'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 Loda's 939 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Iroquois County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Iroquois 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 Iroquois County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Loda's 939 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Loda you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 939 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Loda-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisLoda sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.