Oxford Junction, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Oxford Junction, 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 Oxford Junction 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 Oxford Junction — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Oxford Junction — the short answer
Oxford Junction, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 415 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 415 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 Oxford Junction's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Oxford Junction's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Oxford Junction
Each reading below is measured for Oxford Junction itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOxford Junction runs about 186 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
MeasuredOxford Junction 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 Oxford Junction is in
Oxford Junction sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Oxford Junction's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jones County.
What Grows in Oxford Junction
Every plant below cleared Oxford Junction's own zone 5a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Oxford Junction?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Oxford Junction
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Oxford Junction. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY OF OXFORD JUNCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- BAHL LUMBER CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- PAULISTA MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- MICHELS ""C"" STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- OTTO KOLANDA D-XUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- HAZEL KORANDAUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- 083N01W21DA 1910Oxford Junction 1Nitrate · 950 ft
- 083N01W22CBC 1997NAWQA City of Oxford JctNitrate · 1200 ft
- 083N01W22ACCNitrate · 0.5 mi
- 083N01W01DD 1954Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- 084N02W36ACD 02598 1946Nitrate · 5.3 mi
- TAYLOR BROS D-XUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Oxford Junction'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 Oxford Junction.
Total Sites
107
within ~10 miles of Oxford Junction
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Oxford Junction
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Oxford Junction
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Oxford Junction, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 36 sites within ~10 miles of Oxford Junction. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Oxford Junction
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 Oxford Junction average
Your land is one point inside Oxford Junction
Everything above resolves to Oxford Junction as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 415 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 city 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 Oxford Junction Average
Oxford Junction Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Oxford Junction
- ●One soil character for all of Oxford Junction
- ●Frost dates read at Oxford Junction's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Oxford Junction's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Oxford Junction
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Oxford Junction, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Oxford Junction averages can't show:
We read public map data around Oxford Junction — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Oxford Junction average
How we know this about Oxford Junction
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Oxford Junction’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Oxford Junction
When does frost risk typically end in Oxford Junction?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Oxford Junction typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Oxford Junction?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Oxford Junction typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Oxford Junction?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Oxford Junction sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 5, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Oxford Junction?
The federal record around Oxford Junction is a meaningful one — 107 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (57), 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 Oxford Junction?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Oxford Junction's scale — its 5a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Oxford Junction'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 Oxford Junction’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Oxford Junction's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 415 acres it covers and 107 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Oxford Junction's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Oxford Junction's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 19 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 107 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Oxford Junction, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Oxford Junction's boundary and the 415 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Oxford Junction's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Oxford Junction's 415 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jones County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jones County
- The growing challenges every Iowa grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Iowa
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Jones County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Oxford Junction's 415 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Oxford Junction you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 415 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 Oxford Junction-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaOxford Junction sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides