North Judson, Indiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in North Judson, 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 North Judson 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 North Judson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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North Judson — the short answer
North Judson, Indiana: USDA zone 5b, about 198 days between hard freezes, across 707 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~198
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 707 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 North Judson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against North Judson's 198-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in North Judson
Each reading below is measured for North Judson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNorth Judson runs about 198 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
MeasuredNorth Judson 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 North Judson is in
North Judson sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at North Judson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Starke County.
What Grows in North Judson
Every plant below cleared North Judson's own zone 5b and its 198-day season. Each card opens that plant's Indiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in North Judson?
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 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Documented around North Judson
Survey cells within 31 miles of North Judson checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 32 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near North Judson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of North Judson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GRUBE SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- ROGERS PRECISION AUTO SUPPLYBrownfields · 500 ft
- NORTH JUDSON GAS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- DENHAM GENERAL STORE INCORPORATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- United Telephone Company Indiana DBA Century Link North Judson CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- HENRY MITRIUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- DOUGLAS J VESSELY PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- CARPENTERS OIL COMPANY INCORPORATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Family Express 049Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Judson ExpressUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- AMERICAN OAK PRESERVING COToxics Release Inventory · 2100 ft
- CVS PHARMACY 6543Brownfields · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from North Judson'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 North Judson.
Total Sites
82
within ~10 miles of North Judson
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of North Judson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of North Judson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around North Judson, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 56 sites within ~10 miles of North Judson. 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.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in North Judson
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 North Judson average
Your land is one point inside North Judson
Everything above resolves to North Judson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 707 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 North Judson Average
North Judson Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across North Judson
- ●One soil character for all of North Judson
- ●Frost dates read at North Judson's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Judson's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in North Judson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in North Judson, Indiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Judson averages can't show:
We read public map data around North Judson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Judson average
How we know this about North Judson
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 North Judson’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 North Judson
When does frost risk typically end in North Judson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in North Judson typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in North Judson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in North Judson typically arrives around Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 13, so the watching starts about Sep 27 — about 198 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in North Judson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, North Judson sees about 198 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 13, about 163 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in North Judson?
The federal record around North Judson shows 82 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (56), 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 North Judson?
From about Sep 27 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at North Judson's scale — its 5b band and its 198-day season. Your yard writes its own version of North Judson'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 North Judson’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at North Judson's own scale — its own ~198-day season between 28°F freezes, the 707 acres it covers and 82 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- North Judson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- North Judson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 27 and the ~198-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 82 documented contamination sites on the federal record near North Judson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- North Judson's boundary and the 707 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~198-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at North Judson's own centroid, the Central Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around North Judson 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 North Judson's 707 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Starke County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Starke County
- The growing challenges every Indiana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Indiana
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Starke County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among North Judson's 707 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of North Judson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 707 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 North Judson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Indiana
Wider growing context
What grows across IndianaNorth Judson sits outside our named growing regions, so Indiana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides