Barron, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Barron, 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 Barron 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 Barron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Barron — the short answer
Barron, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 167 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~167
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 4b is Barron's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Barron's 167-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Barron
Each reading below is measured for Barron itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBarron runs about 167 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
MeasuredBarron sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Barron is in
Barron sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Barron's own centroid rather than borrowed from Barron County.
What Grows in Barron
Every plant below cleared Barron's own zone 4b and its 167-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Barron?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Barron
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Barron. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BR-34/12W/27-0069Nitrate · 900 ft
- RITCHIE AUTO CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- JENNIE O TURKEY STORE INC - BARRON PLANTCAFO · 1000 ft
- JENNIE O TURKEY STORE INC - BARRON PLANTBrownfields · 1000 ft
- JENNIE O TURKEY STORE INC - BARRON PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1000 ft
- The Turkey StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Carlsons Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- ANDERSON VALLEY DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MILLER SANITATION SERVICE INCBrownfields · 1300 ft
- RIVERVIEW TERR MOBILE HM PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Barron County Hwy DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- JEROME FOODSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Barron'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 Barron.
Total Sites
464
within ~10 miles of Barron
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
16 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Barron
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Barron
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 Barron
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 Barron average
Your land is one point inside Barron
Everything above resolves to Barron 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 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 Barron Average
Barron Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Barron
- ●One soil character for all of Barron
- ●Frost dates read at Barron's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Barron's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Barron
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Barron, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Barron averages can't show:
We read public map data around Barron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Barron average
How we know this about Barron
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 Barron’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 Barron
When does frost risk typically end in Barron?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Barron typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Barron?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Barron typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 167 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Barron?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Barron sees about 167 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Sep 27, about 132 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Barron?
The federal record around Barron is a meaningful one — 464 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (257), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Barron?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Barron's scale — its 4b band and its 167-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Barron'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 Barron’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Barron's own scale — its own ~167-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,864 acres it covers and 464 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Barron's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Barron's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 11 and the ~167-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 464 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Barron, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Barron's boundary and the 1,864 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~167-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Barron's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Barron's 1,864 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Barron County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Barron 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 Barron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Barron's 1,864 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Barron you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,864 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Barron-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinBarron sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.