London Mills, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in London Mills, 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 London Mills 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 London Mills — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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London Mills — the short answer
London Mills, Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 205 days between hard freezes, across 438 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~205
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 438 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 London Mills's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against London Mills's 205-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in London Mills
Each reading below is measured for London Mills itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLondon Mills runs about 205 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
MeasuredLondon Mills 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 London Mills is in
London Mills sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at London Mills's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fulton County.
What Grows in London Mills
Every plant below cleared London Mills's own zone 6a and its 205-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in London Mills?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 29 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near London Mills
Closest first, within ~10 miles of London Mills. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Corn Belt GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Johnson Motor CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- County Line FeedsUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Glaser R LUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Herbert Farms IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Cravers SerUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- BAKER FARMS - HIGHWAY 39 FACILITYCAFO · 2.2 mi
- Link FarmsUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- Conlons GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- Ellisville GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- Spoon River Fs IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.1 mi
- FRANK HOPKINS FARM - SITE 2CAFO · 6.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from London Mills'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 London Mills.
Total Sites
61
within ~10 miles of London Mills
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of London Mills
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of London Mills
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around London Mills, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of London Mills — CAFO (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (45 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 London Mills
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 London Mills average
Your land is one point inside London Mills
Everything above resolves to London Mills as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 438 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 London Mills Average
London Mills Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across London Mills
- ●One soil character for all of London Mills
- ●Frost dates read at London Mills's scale: Apr 7 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not London Mills's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in London Mills
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in London Mills, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that London Mills averages can't show:
We read public map data around London Mills — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the London Mills average
How we know this about London Mills
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 London Mills’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 London Mills
When does frost risk typically end in London Mills?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in London Mills typically lands around Apr 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in London Mills?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in London Mills typically arrives around Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 15, so the watching starts about Sep 29 — about 205 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in London Mills?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, London Mills sees about 205 frost-free days — roughly Apr 7 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 28 to Oct 15, about 170 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in London Mills?
The federal record around London Mills is a meaningful one — 61 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (45), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in London Mills?
From about Sep 29 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at London Mills's scale — its 6a band and its 205-day season. Your yard writes its own version of London Mills'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 London Mills’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at London Mills's own scale — its own ~205-day season between 28°F freezes, the 438 acres it covers and 61 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- London Mills's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- London Mills's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 7 and Oct 29 and the ~205-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 61 documented contamination sites on the federal record near London Mills, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- London Mills's boundary and the 438 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~205-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at London Mills'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 London Mills's 438 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fulton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fulton 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 Fulton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among London Mills's 438 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of London Mills you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 438 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 London Mills-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisLondon Mills sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides