Wataga, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Wataga, 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 Wataga 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 Wataga — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wataga — the short answer
Wataga, Illinois: USDA zone 5b, about 192 days between hard freezes, across 531 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~192
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 531 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 5b is Wataga's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wataga's 192-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wataga
Each reading below is measured for Wataga itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWataga runs about 192 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
MeasuredWataga sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Wataga is in
Wataga sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Wataga's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Knox County is mostly Interior River Valleys and Hills. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Wataga
Every plant below cleared Wataga's own zone 5b and its 192-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wataga?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Wataga
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wataga. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Cotton TruckingUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Crop Production Ser IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Sparta Township OfUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Casey's General Store #1477Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Former Traveler's Mart #304Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- PORK LANE PARTNERSHIPCAFO · 3.3 mi
- GOSS PORK, INC.CAFO · 3.8 mi
- Henderson Twp Road DistUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- GUNTHER CONSTRUCTION & ASPHALTBrownfields · 4.1 mi
- Conoco OneidaUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Binno LawrenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- AMERENIPBrownfields · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wataga'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 Wataga.
Total Sites
275
within ~10 miles of Wataga
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wataga
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wataga
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wataga, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Wataga — CAFO (11 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (177 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 Wataga
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 Wataga average
Your land is one point inside Wataga
Everything above resolves to Wataga as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 531 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 Wataga Average
Wataga Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Wataga
- ●One soil character for all of Wataga
- ●Frost dates read at Wataga's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wataga's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wataga
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wataga, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wataga averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wataga — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wataga average
How we know this about Wataga
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 Wataga’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 Wataga
When does frost risk typically end in Wataga?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wataga typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Wataga?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wataga typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 192 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wataga?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wataga sees about 192 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 8, about 157 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wataga?
The federal record around Wataga is a meaningful one — 275 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (177), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Wataga?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wataga's scale — its 5b band and its 192-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wataga'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 Wataga’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wataga's own scale — its own ~192-day season between 28°F freezes, the 531 acres it covers and 275 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wataga's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wataga's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 22 and the ~192-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 275 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wataga, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wataga's boundary and the 531 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~192-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Wataga sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wataga's 531 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Knox County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Knox 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 Knox County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wataga's 531 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wataga you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 531 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 Wataga-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisWataga sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides