Eden, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Eden, 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 Eden 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 Eden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Eden — the short answer
Eden, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 187 days between hard freezes, across 383 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 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~187
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 383 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 Eden's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Eden's 187-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Eden
Each reading below is measured for Eden itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEden 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
Winter hardiness
MeasuredEden 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 Eden is in
Eden sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Eden's own centroid rather than borrowed from Fond du Lac County.
What Grows in Eden
Every plant below cleared Eden's own zone 5a and its 187-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Eden?
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 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 20 — 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 Eden
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Eden. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LAKESIDE FOODS INC - EDENBrownfields · 800 ft
- EDEN FARM SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Flood Oil Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Eden Corner ExpressUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- PETRO CHEMICAL SYSTEMS INCBrownfields · 1700 ft
- CARL J WITKOWSKIUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- WHITTY MILK TRANSITUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Baumhardt Sand & Gravel IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- SCHIEKS AUTO BODY & CAMPING CTRUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Baumhardt Sand & GravelUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- GRAYMONT WESTERN LIME - EDENToxics Release Inventory · 0.9 mi
- Eden Stone CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Eden'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 Eden.
Total Sites
764
within ~10 miles of Eden
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
5 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Eden
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Eden
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Eden, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Eden — CAFO (7 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (471 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Eden
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 Eden average
Your land is one point inside Eden
Everything above resolves to Eden as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 383 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 Eden Average
Eden Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Eden
- ●One soil character for all of Eden
- ●Frost dates read at Eden's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Eden's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Eden
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Eden, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Eden averages can't show:
We read public map data around Eden — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Eden average
How we know this about Eden
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 Eden’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 Eden
When does frost risk typically end in Eden?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Eden 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 Eden?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Eden typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 187 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Eden?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Eden sees about 187 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 6, about 152 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Eden?
The federal record around Eden is a meaningful one — 764 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (471), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Eden?
From about Sep 20 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 20 (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 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Eden's scale — its 5a band and its 187-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Eden'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 Eden’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Eden's own scale — its own ~187-day season between 28°F freezes, the 383 acres it covers and 764 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Eden's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Eden's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 20 and the ~187-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 764 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Eden, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Eden's boundary and the 383 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~187-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Eden's own centroid, the Southeastern Wisconsin Till PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Eden's 383 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Fond du Lac County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Fond du Lac 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 Fond du Lac County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Eden's 383 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Eden you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 383 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Eden-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinEden sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides