Stewardson, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Stewardson, 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 Stewardson 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 Stewardson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Stewardson — the short answer
Stewardson, Illinois: USDA zone 6b, about 214 days between hard freezes, across 392 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~214
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 392 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 6b is Stewardson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stewardson's 214-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stewardson
Each reading below is measured for Stewardson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredStewardson runs about 214 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
MeasuredStewardson sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Stewardson is in
Stewardson sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Stewardson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shelby County.
What Grows in Stewardson
Every plant below cleared Stewardson's own zone 6b and its 214-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Stewardson?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Stewardson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stewardson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Wetherell Donald & TammyUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Effingham EquityUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Springer Chevrolet CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Jones Trucking SerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- BRIAN SCHULTZ FARMCAFO · 2600 ft
- Stewardson CitgoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Tate Farm Equipment IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Moomaw LowellUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- Moomaw Elevator & TruckingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- York Bin CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- Shumway Grade SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- C W Staldt GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stewardson'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 Stewardson.
Total Sites
69
within ~10 miles of Stewardson
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stewardson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stewardson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Stewardson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Stewardson — CAFO (5 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (51 sites). 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.
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 Stewardson
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 Stewardson average
Your land is one point inside Stewardson
Everything above resolves to Stewardson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 392 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 Stewardson Average
Stewardson Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Stewardson
- ●One soil character for all of Stewardson
- ●Frost dates read at Stewardson's scale: Apr 2 to Nov 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stewardson's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stewardson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stewardson, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stewardson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stewardson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stewardson average
How we know this about Stewardson
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 Stewardson’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 Stewardson
When does frost risk typically end in Stewardson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stewardson typically lands around Apr 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Stewardson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stewardson typically arrives around Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 19, so the watching starts about Oct 3 — about 214 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Stewardson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stewardson sees about 214 frost-free days — roughly Apr 2 through Nov 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 23 to Oct 19, about 179 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Stewardson?
The federal record around Stewardson shows 69 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (51), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Stewardson?
From about Oct 3 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 Nov 2 (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 Nov 2. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Stewardson's scale — its 6b band and its 214-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stewardson'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 Stewardson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Stewardson's own scale — its own ~214-day season between 28°F freezes, the 392 acres it covers and 69 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stewardson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Stewardson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 2 and Nov 2 and the ~214-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 69 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stewardson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stewardson's boundary and the 392 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~214-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Stewardson'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 Stewardson's 392 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shelby County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shelby 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 Shelby County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Stewardson's 392 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stewardson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 392 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 Stewardson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisStewardson sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides