Ferryville, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Ferryville, 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 Ferryville 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 Ferryville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ferryville — the short answer
Ferryville, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~199
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Ferryville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ferryville's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ferryville
Each reading below is measured for Ferryville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFerryville runs about 199 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
MeasuredFerryville 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 Ferryville is in
Ferryville sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ferryville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Crawford County.
What Grows in Ferryville
Every plant below cleared Ferryville's own zone 5a and its 199-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ferryville?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Ferryville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ferryville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SCOTTS MOBIL & SPORTSHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Ferryville Cheese LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- THEODORA DELONGUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- FERRYVILLE GARAGEBrownfields · 2400 ft
- NEARYS CONOCO SVCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Alan B SampsonUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- KNUTSON LUMBER YARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Fred TowerUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- FERRYVILLE CHEESE PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- LAVERNE EMERSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- FREEMAN CHEESE FACTORYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- IPL - LANSING GENERATING STATIONToxics Release Inventory · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ferryville'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 Ferryville.
Total Sites
123
within ~10 miles of Ferryville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ferryville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ferryville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ferryville, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 42 sites within ~10 miles of Ferryville. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Ferryville
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 Ferryville average
Your land is one point inside Ferryville
Everything above resolves to Ferryville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Ferryville Average
Ferryville Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Ferryville
- ●One soil character for all of Ferryville
- ●Frost dates read at Ferryville's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ferryville's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ferryville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ferryville, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ferryville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ferryville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ferryville average
How we know this about Ferryville
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 Ferryville’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 Ferryville
When does frost risk typically end in Ferryville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ferryville typically lands around Apr 10, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Ferryville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ferryville typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ferryville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ferryville sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 12, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ferryville?
The federal record around Ferryville is a meaningful one — 123 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (65), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Ferryville?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ferryville's scale — its 5a band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ferryville'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 Ferryville’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ferryville's own scale — its own ~199-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,361 acres it covers and 123 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ferryville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ferryville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 26 and the ~199-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 123 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ferryville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ferryville's boundary and the 1,361 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~199-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ferryville's own centroid, the Driftless AreaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ferryville's 1,361 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 Ferryville's 1,361 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ferryville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,361 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Ferryville-wide figureread your own land →
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