Wiscasset, Maine, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wiscasset, 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 Wiscasset 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 Wiscasset — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wiscasset — the short answer
Wiscasset, Maine: USDA zone 5b, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Wiscasset's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wiscasset's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wiscasset
Each reading below is measured for Wiscasset itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWiscasset 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
MeasuredWiscasset 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 Wiscasset is in
Wiscasset sits in the Acadian Plains and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Wiscasset's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Wiscasset
Every plant below cleared Wiscasset's own zone 5b and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's Maine profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wiscasset?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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 Wiscasset
Survey cells within 31 miles of Wiscasset checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 49 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Wiscasset
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wiscasset. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NORTHEAST SECURITY SYSTEMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- WISCASSET QUICK STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- ENI 2309Brownfields · 0.6 mi
- LINCOLN COUNTY SHERIFF DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- TOWN WORKS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- WISCASSET TOWN OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- WISCASSET FORDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- HUNT BROTHERS LUMBER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- GL GREEN CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- HAGGETTS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- WISCASSET BUS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- PRO BODY WORKSBrownfields · 1.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wiscasset'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 Wiscasset.
Total Sites
152
within ~10 miles of Wiscasset
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wiscasset
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wiscasset
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wiscasset, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Wiscasset — Superfund (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (104 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Wiscasset
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 Wiscasset average
Your land is one point inside Wiscasset
Everything above resolves to Wiscasset as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Wiscasset Average
Wiscasset Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Wiscasset
- ●One soil character for all of Wiscasset
- ●Frost dates read at Wiscasset's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wiscasset's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wiscasset
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wiscasset, Maine — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wiscasset averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wiscasset — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wiscasset average
How we know this about Wiscasset
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 Wiscasset’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 Wiscasset
When does frost risk typically end in Wiscasset?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wiscasset typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Wiscasset?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wiscasset typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wiscasset?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wiscasset sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 9, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wiscasset?
The federal record around Wiscasset is a meaningful one — 152 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (104), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles 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 Wiscasset?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wiscasset's scale — its 5b band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wiscasset'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 Wiscasset’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Wiscasset's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,495 acres it covers and 152 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wiscasset's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wiscasset's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 23 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 152 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wiscasset, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wiscasset's boundary and the 2,495 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wiscasset's own centroid, the Acadian Plains and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Wiscasset 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 Wiscasset's 2,495 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln County
- The growing challenges every Maine grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Maine
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wiscasset's 2,495 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wiscasset you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,495 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Wiscasset-wide figureread your own land →
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