Calumet County, in Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Calumet County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Calumet County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Calumet County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Calumet County — the short answer
Calumet County, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5b, about 187 days between hard freezes, across 204K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~187
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 204K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 5b is Calumet County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Calumet County's 187-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Calumet County
Across a year, Calumet County accumulates about 2,280 growing degree days above 50°F, about 130 more than the middle Wisconsin county — ahead of 49 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Calumet County
Across Calumet County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Kewaunee, Manawa, and Poygan are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.5–7.0, neutral. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
35%
Hydric soils
20%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Calumet County
The USDA soil survey maps 37% of Calumet County as well drained — but another 43% drains differently: 23% somewhat poorly drained, 9% poorly drained.
Kewaunee is the most extensive named soil at 26% of mapped acres, then Manawa (21%) and Poygan (6%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Calumet County
Each reading below is measured for Calumet County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Calumet County are well drained, in hydrologic group D — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Calumet County runs about pH 6.5–7.0, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 20% of Calumet County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredCalumet County runs about 187 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
The kind of country Calumet County is in
Calumet County sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Calumet County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Calumet County's own USDA zone 5b and its own 187-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile.
Is it too late to plant in Calumet County?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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.
Documented around Calumet County
- Japanese beetle1 documented records
- monarch butterfly20 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Calumet County
USGS estimates 56,538 lb of Glyphosate on Calumet County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (41,113 lb) and Metolachlor-s (32,327 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Calumet County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Calumet County — 414 documented sites across 7 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 6 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Calumet County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Calumet County
Closest first, across Calumet County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FOREMOST FARMS USAToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- HUGO LODESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- GORDON BARTELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CLAUDE LISOIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- PAUL A WOLFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- CLIFFORD CARNEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- TOWN OF CHILTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- HICKORY MEADOWS LANDFILL, LLCToxics Release Inventory · 2.2 mi
- GREEN MEADOWS RNG LLC - GREEN MEADOWS OPERATIONS LLCBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- COOPERATIVE SERVICE OIL COToxics Release Inventory · 2.6 mi
- GRANDE CHEESE COMPANY - CHILTON FACILITYBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- MAPLE GROVE DAIRY FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Calumet County'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 Calumet County.
Sources Checked
across Calumet County
Severity Distribution
across Calumet County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Calumet County, two things run higher than the national average across Calumet County — PFAS (10 sites) and CAFO (8 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Calumet County
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 Calumet County average
Your land is one point inside Calumet County
Everything above resolves to Calumet County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 204K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Calumet County Average
Calumet County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Calumet County
- ●One soil character for all of Calumet County
- ●Frost dates read at Calumet County's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Calumet County's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Calumet County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Calumet County, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Calumet County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Calumet County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Calumet County average
How we know this about Calumet County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Calumet County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Calumet County
When does frost risk typically end in Calumet County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Calumet County typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
How long is the growing season in Calumet County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Calumet County sees about 187 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 9, about 152 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Calumet County?
The federal record around Calumet County is a meaningful one — 414 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (242), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.6 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.
Everything above is measured at Calumet County's scale — its 5b band and its 187-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Calumet County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Wisconsin's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Calumet County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Calumet County's own scale — its own ~187-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 414 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Calumet County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Calumet County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~187-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Calumet CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 414 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.6 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Calumet County's boundary and the 203,680 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~187-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Calumet County sitting wholly inside the Southeastern Wisconsin Till PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Calumet County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Calumet County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Wisconsin grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Wisconsin
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Calumet County — the ~187 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Calumet County's 203,680 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 414 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Calumet Countyread your own land →