Fremont, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Fremont, 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 Fremont 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 Fremont — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Fremont — the short answer
Fremont, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 186 days between hard freezes, across 681 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 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~186
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 681 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 Fremont's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Fremont's 186-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Fremont
Each reading below is measured for Fremont itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFremont runs about 186 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
MeasuredFremont 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 Fremont is in
Fremont sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Fremont's own centroid rather than borrowed from Waupaca County.
What Grows in Fremont
Every plant below cleared Fremont's own zone 5a and its 186-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Fremont?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Fremont
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Fremont. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FREMONT SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Risier Fuels LLC - Fremont Mobil MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FREMONT AUTO CENTER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- WP-21/13E/25-0723Nitrate · 1300 ft
- SMITHS MODERN GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- WOLF RIDGE COTTAGESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- UNION STORE CHEESE FACTORYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- SPORTSMANS SELF SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- RIVERCOURT RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- WOLF RIVER OIL & MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- FREMONT AUTO CENTERBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL #21656Brownfields · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Fremont'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 Fremont.
Total Sites
155
within ~10 miles of Fremont
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Fremont
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Fremont
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Fremont, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 115 sites within ~10 miles of Fremont. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Fremont
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 Fremont average
Your land is one point inside Fremont
Everything above resolves to Fremont as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 681 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 Fremont Average
Fremont Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Fremont
- ●One soil character for all of Fremont
- ●Frost dates read at Fremont's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Fremont's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Fremont
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Fremont, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Fremont averages can't show:
We read public map data around Fremont — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Fremont average
How we know this about Fremont
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 Fremont’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 Fremont
When does frost risk typically end in Fremont?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Fremont 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 Fremont?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Fremont 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 186 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Fremont?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Fremont sees about 186 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 5, about 151 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Fremont?
The federal record around Fremont is a meaningful one — 155 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (115), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Fremont?
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 Fremont's scale — its 5a band and its 186-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Fremont'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 Fremont’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Fremont's own scale — its own ~186-day season between 28°F freezes, the 681 acres it covers and 155 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Fremont's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Fremont's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 19 and the ~186-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 155 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Fremont, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Fremont's boundary and the 681 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~186-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Fremont's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Fremont's 681 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Waupaca County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Waupaca 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 Waupaca County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Fremont's 681 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Fremont you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 681 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 Fremont-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinFremont sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.