Downing, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Downing, 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 Downing 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 Downing — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Downing — the short answer
Downing, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 173 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 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- 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 Downing's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Downing's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Downing
Each reading below is measured for Downing itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDowning runs about 173 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
MeasuredDowning 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 Downing is in
Downing sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Downing's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Dunn County is mostly North Central Hardwood Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Downing
Every plant below cleared Downing's own zone 4b and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Downing?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 16 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Downing
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Downing. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WDOT DOWNINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Brothers Country MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- JEANS COUNTRY CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- HARNISCH LUMBER CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- KADINGER SALVAGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- GAYLEN F BURTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- DOWNING FEED MILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- LEROY J LOIDAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- BILL SWENSON REPAIRBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- SMITH IMPLEMENT COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- DU-30/14W/31-0036Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- SMITH IMPLEMENTBrownfields · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Downing'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 Downing.
Total Sites
161
within ~10 miles of Downing
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Downing
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Downing
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 Downing
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 Downing average
Your land is one point inside Downing
Everything above resolves to Downing 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 Downing Average
Downing Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Downing
- ●One soil character for all of Downing
- ●Frost dates read at Downing's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Downing's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Downing
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Downing, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Downing averages can't show:
We read public map data around Downing — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Downing average
How we know this about Downing
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 Downing’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 Downing
When does frost risk typically end in Downing?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Downing 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 Downing?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Downing typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Downing?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Downing sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 2, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Downing?
The federal record around Downing shows 161 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (92), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Downing?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Downing's scale — its 4b band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Downing'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 Downing’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Downing's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,891 acres it covers and 161 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Downing's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Downing's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 16 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 161 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Downing, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Downing's boundary and the 1,891 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Downing sits in the Driftless Area — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Downing's 1,891 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dunn County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dunn 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 Dunn County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Downing's 1,891 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Downing you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,891 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 Downing-wide figureread your own land →
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