Winslow, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Winslow, 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 Winslow 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 Winslow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Winslow — the short answer
Winslow, Illinois: USDA zone 5a, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 293 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 293 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 5a is Winslow's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Winslow's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Winslow
Each reading below is measured for Winslow itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWinslow runs about 183 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
MeasuredWinslow sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Winslow is in
Winslow sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Winslow's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Stephenson County is mostly Central Corn Belt Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Winslow
Every plant below cleared Winslow's own zone 5a and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Winslow?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Winslow
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Winslow. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Winslow BOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Krebs & Heer SerUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Campbell Craig A & Chris LUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Lena-Winslow School DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- MTX Loudspeakers IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- LEUENBERGER'S HOLSTEINSCAFO · 1.9 mi
- Duane FoxUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Town Of CadezUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- STEVE & ANGIE BIRR FARMSCAFO · 4.5 mi
- 0.5 miles NW of McConnelNitrate · 4.7 mi
- GN-01/06E/04-0014Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- Quality Milk Service IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Winslow'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 Winslow.
Total Sites
138
within ~10 miles of Winslow
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Winslow
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Winslow
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Winslow, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Winslow — CAFO (6 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (91 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Winslow
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 Winslow average
Your land is one point inside Winslow
Everything above resolves to Winslow as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 293 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 Winslow Average
Winslow Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Winslow
- ●One soil character for all of Winslow
- ●Frost dates read at Winslow's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Winslow's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Winslow
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Winslow, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Winslow averages can't show:
We read public map data around Winslow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Winslow average
How we know this about Winslow
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 Winslow’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 Winslow
When does frost risk typically end in Winslow?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Winslow typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Winslow?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Winslow typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Winslow?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Winslow sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 4, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Winslow?
The federal record around Winslow shows 138 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (91), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Winslow?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Winslow's scale — its 5a band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Winslow'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 Winslow’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Winslow's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 293 acres it covers and 138 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Winslow's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Winslow's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 18 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 138 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Winslow, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Winslow's boundary and the 293 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Winslow sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till 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 Winslow's 293 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Stephenson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Stephenson 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 Stephenson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Winslow's 293 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Winslow you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 293 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 Winslow-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisWinslow sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides