Allenton, Wisconsin, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Allenton, 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 Allenton 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 Allenton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Allenton — the short answer
Allenton, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 998 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- 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 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 998 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 Allenton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Allenton's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Allenton
Each reading below is measured for Allenton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAllenton runs about 176 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
MeasuredAllenton 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 Allenton is in
Allenton sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Allenton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washington County.
What Grows in Allenton
Every plant below cleared Allenton's own zone 5a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Allenton?
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 16 — 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 Allenton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Allenton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 536 MAIN STREET PROPERTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Romies Service IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- DONS ELEVATOR INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- RIGHT OF WAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FARMERS INCBrownfields · 1100 ft
- Case Farmers ImplementUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- ROMIES SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FIRESIDE RESTAURANT MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- OCONNOR OIL CORPBrownfields · 1400 ft
- OCONNOR OIL BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- GP Church Street LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- WN-11/18E/16-0143Nitrate · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Allenton'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 Allenton.
Total Sites
817
within ~10 miles of Allenton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Allenton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Allenton
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Allenton
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 Allenton average
Your land is one point inside Allenton
Everything above resolves to Allenton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 998 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 Allenton Average
Allenton Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Allenton
- ●One soil character for all of Allenton
- ●Frost dates read at Allenton's scale: Apr 23 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Allenton's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Allenton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Allenton, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Allenton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Allenton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Allenton average
How we know this about Allenton
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 Allenton’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 Allenton
When does frost risk typically end in Allenton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Allenton 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 Allenton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Allenton typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Allenton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Allenton sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 2, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Allenton?
The federal record around Allenton is a meaningful one — 817 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (424), 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 Allenton?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Allenton's scale — its 5a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Allenton'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 Allenton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Allenton's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 998 acres it covers and 817 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Allenton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Allenton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Oct 16 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 817 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Allenton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Allenton's boundary and the 998 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Allenton's own centroid, the Southeastern Wisconsin Till PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Allenton's 998 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington County
- The growing challenges every Wisconsin grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Wisconsin
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Allenton's 998 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Allenton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 998 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 Allenton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinAllenton sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.