Black River Falls, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Black River Falls, 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 Black River Falls 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 Black River Falls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Black River Falls — the short answer
Black River Falls, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 159 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~159
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Black River Falls's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Black River Falls's 159-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Black River Falls
Each reading below is measured for Black River Falls itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBlack River Falls runs about 159 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
MeasuredBlack River Falls 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 Black River Falls is in
Black River Falls sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Black River Falls's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Jackson County is mostly Driftless Area. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Black River Falls
Every plant below cleared Black River Falls's own zone 4b and its 159-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Black River Falls?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 Black River Falls
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Black River Falls. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Hart Tie & Lumber Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- FEDERATION COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- BAND BOX CLEANERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- HOME OIL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FORMER HOME OIL BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Holiday Stationstore #183Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Federation Co Op IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- BLACK RIVER FALLS MUNICIPAL UTILITIESBrownfields · 1400 ft
- Falls Oil Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- JAMES DOBSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Habelman Bros CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Black River Falls'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 Black River Falls.
Total Sites
176
within ~10 miles of Black River Falls
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Black River Falls
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Black River Falls
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Black River Falls, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 131 sites within ~10 miles of Black River Falls. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Black River Falls
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 Black River Falls average
Your land is one point inside Black River Falls
Everything above resolves to Black River Falls as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Black River Falls Average
Black River Falls Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Black River Falls
- ●One soil character for all of Black River Falls
- ●Frost dates read at Black River Falls's scale: May 1 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Black River Falls's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Black River Falls
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Black River Falls, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Black River Falls averages can't show:
We read public map data around Black River Falls — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Black River Falls average
How we know this about Black River Falls
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 Black River Falls’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 Black River Falls
When does frost risk typically end in Black River Falls?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Black River Falls typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Black River Falls?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Black River Falls typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 159 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Black River Falls?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Black River Falls sees about 159 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Sep 23, about 124 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Black River Falls?
The federal record around Black River Falls shows 176 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (131), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Black River Falls?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Black River Falls's scale — its 4b band and its 159-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Black River Falls'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 Black River Falls’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Black River Falls's own scale — its own ~159-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,678 acres it covers and 176 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Black River Falls's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Black River Falls's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 7 and the ~159-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 176 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Black River Falls, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Black River Falls's boundary and the 2,678 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~159-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Black River Falls sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Black River Falls's 2,678 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson 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 Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Black River Falls's 2,678 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Black River Falls you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,678 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Black River Falls-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinBlack River Falls sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides