Brandon, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Brandon, 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 Brandon 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 Brandon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Brandon — the short answer
Brandon, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 184 days between hard freezes, across 485 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- 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
- ~184
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 485 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 Brandon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Brandon's 184-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Brandon
Each reading below is measured for Brandon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBrandon runs about 184 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
MeasuredBrandon 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 Brandon is in
Brandon sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Brandon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fond du Lac County.
What Grows in Brandon
Every plant below cleared Brandon's own zone 5a and its 184-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Brandon?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (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. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Brandon
Spotted lanternfly documented 17 miles from Brandon, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Brandon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Brandon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- KOEHLER OIL CO INC Q-MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- BRANDON MEAT & SAUSAGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- ZOELLNER CENTRAL WELL DRILLINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- NEAL TANK & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- FL-15/14E/36-0022Nitrate · 450 ft
- JOHN E BROWN MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- BRANDON STATION GROUNDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- VILLAGE OF BRANDONUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- WEIDNER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- DAVIS MANUFACTURINGBrownfields · 850 ft
- Brandon BP StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Flba East Central WisconsinUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Brandon'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 Brandon.
Total Sites
357
within ~10 miles of Brandon
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Brandon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Brandon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Brandon, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Brandon — Underground Storage Tanks (231 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Brandon
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 Brandon average
Your land is one point inside Brandon
Everything above resolves to Brandon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 485 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 Brandon Average
Brandon Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Brandon
- ●One soil character for all of Brandon
- ●Frost dates read at Brandon's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Brandon's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Brandon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Brandon, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Brandon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Brandon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Brandon average
How we know this about Brandon
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 Brandon’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 Brandon
When does frost risk typically end in Brandon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Brandon typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Brandon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Brandon 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 184 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Brandon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Brandon sees about 184 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 5, about 149 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Brandon?
The federal record around Brandon is a meaningful one — 357 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (231), 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 Brandon?
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 Brandon's scale — its 5a band and its 184-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Brandon'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 Brandon’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Brandon's own scale — its own ~184-day season between 28°F freezes, the 485 acres it covers and 357 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Brandon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Brandon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 19 and the ~184-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 357 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Brandon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Brandon's boundary and the 485 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~184-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Brandon's own centroid, the Southeastern Wisconsin Till PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Brandonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Brandon's 485 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fond du Lac County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fond du Lac 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 Fond du Lac County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Brandon's 485 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Brandon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 485 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 Brandon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinBrandon sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.