Hawkins, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Hawkins, 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 Hawkins 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 Hawkins — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hawkins — the short answer
Hawkins, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~156
- 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 4a is Hawkins's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hawkins's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hawkins
Each reading below is measured for Hawkins itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHawkins runs about 156 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
MeasuredHawkins sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Hawkins is in
Hawkins sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Hawkins's own centroid rather than borrowed from Rusk County.
What Grows in Hawkins
Every plant below cleared Hawkins's own zone 4a and its 156-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hawkins?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 Hawkins
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hawkins. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BAKER OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Village Of HawkinsUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- FLAMBEAU CORRECTIONAL CTRBrownfields · 700 ft
- Flambeau Correctional CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- NORCO WINDOWS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- HAWKINS AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Nelson StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Northwoods ConvenienceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- JELD-WEN HAWKINS WINDOW DIVISIONToxics Release Inventory · 1200 ft
- JELD-WEN HAWKINS WINDOW DIVISIONBrownfields · 1200 ft
- JOLLY INNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- KRINGS MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hawkins'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 Hawkins.
Total Sites
42
within ~10 miles of Hawkins
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hawkins
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hawkins
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hawkins, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 33 sites within ~10 miles of Hawkins. 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 Hawkins
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 Hawkins average
Your land is one point inside Hawkins
Everything above resolves to Hawkins 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 Hawkins Average
Hawkins Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Hawkins
- ●One soil character for all of Hawkins
- ●Frost dates read at Hawkins's scale: May 4 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hawkins's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hawkins
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hawkins, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hawkins averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hawkins — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hawkins average
How we know this about Hawkins
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 Hawkins’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 Hawkins
When does frost risk typically end in Hawkins?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hawkins typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Hawkins?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hawkins typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 156 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hawkins?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hawkins sees about 156 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 23, about 121 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hawkins?
The federal record around Hawkins is light — 42 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (33), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Hawkins?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hawkins's scale — its 4a band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hawkins'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 Hawkins’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hawkins's own scale — its own ~156-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,412 acres it covers and 42 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hawkins's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hawkins's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 7 and the ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 42 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hawkins, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hawkins's boundary and the 1,412 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hawkins's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hawkins's 1,412 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Rusk County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Rusk 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 Rusk County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hawkins's 1,412 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hawkins you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,412 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Hawkins-wide figureread your own land →
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