Eastman, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Eastman, 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 Eastman 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 Eastman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Eastman — the short answer
Eastman, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- 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 5a is Eastman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Eastman's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Eastman
Each reading below is measured for Eastman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEastman runs about 188 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
MeasuredEastman 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 Eastman is in
Eastman sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Eastman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Crawford County.
What Grows in Eastman
Every plant below cleared Eastman's own zone 5a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Eastman?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Eastman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Eastman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Eastman TownshipUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- KRAMERS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- DOROTHY BURGUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- GREAT RIVERS FS COOP MILLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- ARTHUR ZABELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- ADL LEASING / ZABEL EQUIPMENT INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- CLARENCE BAKERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- CR-08/06W/09-0153Nitrate · 3.1 mi
- LYNXVILLE BAR & GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- Mitchell's Liquor Box LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- CR-09/06W/27-0059Nitrate · 4.7 mi
- CR-07/05W/09-0171Nitrate · 5.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Eastman'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 Eastman.
Total Sites
148
within ~10 miles of Eastman
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Eastman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Eastman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Eastman, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 96 sites within ~10 miles of Eastman. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Eastman
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 Eastman average
Your land is one point inside Eastman
Everything above resolves to Eastman 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 Eastman Average
Eastman Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Eastman
- ●One soil character for all of Eastman
- ●Frost dates read at Eastman's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Eastman's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Eastman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Eastman, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Eastman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Eastman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Eastman average
How we know this about Eastman
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 Eastman’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 Eastman
When does frost risk typically end in Eastman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Eastman typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Eastman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Eastman typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Eastman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Eastman sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 7, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Eastman?
The federal record around Eastman is a meaningful one — 148 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (96), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Eastman?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Eastman's scale — its 5a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Eastman'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 Eastman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Eastman's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,291 acres it covers and 148 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Eastman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Eastman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 21 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 148 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Eastman, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Eastman's boundary and the 2,291 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Eastman's own centroid, the Driftless AreaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Eastman's 2,291 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Crawford County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Crawford 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 Crawford County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Eastman's 2,291 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Eastman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,291 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.8 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 Eastman-wide figureread your own land →
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