Clayton, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Clayton, 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 Clayton 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 Clayton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Clayton — the short answer
Clayton, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 172 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~172
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 Clayton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clayton's 172-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Clayton
Each reading below is measured for Clayton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredClayton runs about 172 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
MeasuredClayton 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 Clayton is in
Clayton sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Clayton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Polk County.
What Grows in Clayton
Every plant below cleared Clayton's own zone 4b and its 172-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Clayton?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — 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 Clayton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clayton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CLAYTON SCHOOL DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CLAYTON SCHOOL DISTRICTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- HEINTZ OIL (FORMER ICO)Brownfields · 2200 ft
- PK-33/15W/24-0057Nitrate · 2300 ft
- BORG PRECISIONBrownfields · 2400 ft
- MINORS REPAIR CENTERBrownfields · 2400 ft
- CLAYTON SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- FOREMOST FARMS USABrownfields · 2600 ft
- FOREMOST FARMS USAToxics Release Inventory · 2600 ft
- Foremost Farms UsaUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Clayton AmocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- SALLYS GAS STATION 138Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clayton'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 Clayton.
Total Sites
220
within ~10 miles of Clayton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Clayton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Clayton
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 Clayton
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 Clayton average
Your land is one point inside Clayton
Everything above resolves to Clayton 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 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 Clayton Average
Clayton Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Clayton
- ●One soil character for all of Clayton
- ●Frost dates read at Clayton's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clayton's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Clayton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clayton, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clayton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clayton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clayton average
How we know this about Clayton
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 Clayton’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 Clayton
When does frost risk typically end in Clayton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clayton typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Clayton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clayton typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 172 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Clayton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clayton sees about 172 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 1, about 137 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clayton?
The federal record around Clayton is a meaningful one — 220 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (106), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Clayton?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Clayton's scale — its 4b band and its 172-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clayton'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 Clayton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Clayton's own scale — its own ~172-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,055 acres it covers and 220 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clayton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Clayton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 15 and the ~172-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 220 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clayton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Clayton's boundary and the 2,055 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~172-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Clayton'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 Clayton's 2,055 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Polk County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Polk 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 Polk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clayton's 2,055 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Clayton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,055 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Clayton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinClayton sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides