Catawba, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Catawba, 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 Catawba 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 Catawba — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Catawba — the short answer
Catawba, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 150 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~150
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 4a is Catawba's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Catawba's 150-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Catawba
Each reading below is measured for Catawba itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCatawba runs about 150 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
MeasuredCatawba sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Catawba is in
Catawba sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Catawba's own centroid rather than borrowed from Price County.
What Grows in Catawba
Every plant below cleared Catawba's own zone 4a and its 150-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Catawba?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Catawba
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Catawba. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CATAWBA MIDDLE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- RAYS AUTO REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Catawba Farm SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- ERNEST JABLONSKY LOGGING INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Catawba Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Mc Cormick & Mc Cormick IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- OLIVER LIBALUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- Schancers GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- BADER STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- Elaine KeisnerUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- KEN & LUS PAIR A DICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Mix Rite Feed Mill IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Catawba'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 Catawba.
Total Sites
49
within ~10 miles of Catawba
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Catawba
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Catawba
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Catawba, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 42 sites within ~10 miles of Catawba. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Catawba
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 Catawba average
Your land is one point inside Catawba
Everything above resolves to Catawba 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 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 Catawba Average
Catawba Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Catawba
- ●One soil character for all of Catawba
- ●Frost dates read at Catawba's scale: May 9 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Catawba's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Catawba
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Catawba, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Catawba averages can't show:
We read public map data around Catawba — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Catawba average
How we know this about Catawba
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 Catawba’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 Catawba
When does frost risk typically end in Catawba?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Catawba typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Catawba?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Catawba typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 150 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Catawba?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Catawba sees about 150 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 22, about 115 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Catawba?
The federal record around Catawba is light — 49 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (42), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Catawba?
From about Sep 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Catawba's scale — its 4a band and its 150-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Catawba'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 Catawba’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Catawba's own scale — its own ~150-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,840 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Catawba's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Catawba's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 6 and the ~150-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Catawba, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Catawba's boundary and the 2,840 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~150-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Catawba's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Catawba's 2,840 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Price County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Price 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 Price County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Catawba's 2,840 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Catawba you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,840 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 Catawba-wide figureread your own land →
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