Ridge Farm, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Ridge Farm, 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 Ridge Farm 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 Ridge Farm — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ridge Farm — the short answer
Ridge Farm, Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 208 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 5
- 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
- ~208
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Ridge Farm's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ridge Farm's 208-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ridge Farm
Each reading below is measured for Ridge Farm itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRidge Farm runs about 208 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
MeasuredRidge Farm 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 Ridge Farm is in
Ridge Farm sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ridge Farm's own centroid rather than borrowed from Vermilion County.
What Grows in Ridge Farm
Every plant below cleared Ridge Farm's own zone 6a and its 208-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ridge Farm?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 5 (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. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
Documented around Ridge Farm
Survey cells within 31 miles of Ridge Farm checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 89 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Ridge Farm
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ridge Farm. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Village of Ridge FarmUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Elwood TownshipUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- Kerr McgeeUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Newells MarathonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Casey's General Store #1524Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Jackson John LUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Jackson Marathon Corp.Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Brew House Package LiquorsUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Missionaries of LaSaletteUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Water DeptartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- DYNACHEM INCToxics Release Inventory · 4.8 mi
- BLACK BEAUTY COAL CO-RIOLA MINEBrownfields · 5.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ridge Farm'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 Ridge Farm.
Total Sites
49
within ~10 miles of Ridge Farm
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ridge Farm
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ridge Farm
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ridge Farm, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ridge Farm — Underground Storage Tanks (38 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (3 sites). 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.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Ridge Farm
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 Ridge Farm average
Your land is one point inside Ridge Farm
Everything above resolves to Ridge Farm as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Ridge Farm Average
Ridge Farm Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Ridge Farm
- ●One soil character for all of Ridge Farm
- ●Frost dates read at Ridge Farm's scale: Apr 5 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ridge Farm's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ridge Farm
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ridge Farm, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ridge Farm averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ridge Farm — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ridge Farm average
How we know this about Ridge Farm
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 Ridge Farm’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 Ridge Farm
When does frost risk typically end in Ridge Farm?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ridge Farm typically lands around Apr 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Ridge Farm?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ridge Farm 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 208 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ridge Farm?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ridge Farm sees about 208 frost-free days — roughly Apr 5 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 26 to Oct 16, about 173 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ridge Farm?
The federal record around Ridge Farm is light — 49 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (38), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Ridge Farm?
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 Ridge Farm's scale — its 6a band and its 208-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ridge Farm'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 Ridge Farm’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Ridge Farm's own scale — its own ~208-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,956 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ridge Farm's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ridge Farm's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 5 and Oct 30 and the ~208-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ridge Farm, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ridge Farm's boundary and the 1,956 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~208-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ridge Farm's own centroid, the Central Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Ridge Farm checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ridge Farm's 1,956 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Vermilion County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Vermilion 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 Vermilion County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ridge Farm's 1,956 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ridge Farm you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,956 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Ridge Farm-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisRidge Farm sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides