Edgerton, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Edgerton, 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 Edgerton 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 Edgerton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Edgerton — the short answer
Edgerton, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5b, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 5b is Edgerton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Edgerton's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Edgerton
Each reading below is measured for Edgerton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEdgerton 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
MeasuredEdgerton sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Edgerton is in
Edgerton sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Edgerton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rock County.
What Grows in Edgerton
Every plant below cleared Edgerton's own zone 5b and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Edgerton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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 Edgerton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Edgerton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WISCONSIN PLASTIC DRAIN TILEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MORRISON AUTO SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MERCY EDGERTON MEDICAL CTRBrownfields · 1300 ft
- Kwik Trip #675Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- ORENS AUTOBODY & CARWASHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- EDGERTON MOTOR COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- PEDERSON PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- BURNS BUS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- COMEBACK INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- The Filling StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- EDGERTON REPORTERBrownfields · 1500 ft
- HALVERSONS 66Underground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Edgerton'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 Edgerton.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Edgerton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Edgerton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Edgerton, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 6 sites within ~10 miles of Edgerton. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Edgerton
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 Edgerton average
Your land is one point inside Edgerton
Everything above resolves to Edgerton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 city 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 Edgerton Average
Edgerton Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Edgerton
- ●One soil character for all of Edgerton
- ●Frost dates read at Edgerton's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Edgerton's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Edgerton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Edgerton, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Edgerton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Edgerton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Edgerton average
How we know this about Edgerton
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Edgerton’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Edgerton
When does frost risk typically end in Edgerton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Edgerton typically lands around Apr 14, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Edgerton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Edgerton typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Edgerton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Edgerton sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 5, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Edgerton?
The federal record around Edgerton runs heavier than most — 457 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (267), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Edgerton?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Edgerton's scale — its 5b band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Edgerton'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 Edgerton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Edgerton's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,662 acres it covers and 457 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Edgerton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Edgerton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 14 and Oct 19 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 457 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Edgerton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Edgerton's boundary and the 2,662 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Edgerton'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 Edgerton's 2,662 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rock County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rock 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 Rock County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Edgerton's 2,662 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Edgerton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,662 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Edgerton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinEdgerton sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides