Hayward, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hayward, 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 Hayward 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 Hayward — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hayward — the short answer
Hayward, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Hayward's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hayward's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hayward
Each reading below is measured for Hayward itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHayward runs about 148 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredHayward 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 Hayward is in
Hayward sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Hayward's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sawyer County.
What Grows in Hayward
Every plant below cleared Hayward's own zone 4a and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hayward?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Hayward
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hayward. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CABARET CABINETRY INCBrownfields · 550 ft
- HIDDEN BAY GRAPHICSBrownfields · 650 ft
- GORDONS STANDARD STATION INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- KWIK TRIPUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Shell ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- ARROW BUILDING CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- RISBERG LAND COUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- JUMP RIVER ELECTRIC CO OP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- KENS AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 850 ft
- NORTHERN LAKES COOPBrownfields · 850 ft
- HAYWARD VA CLINICBrownfields · 950 ft
- ARCLIN SURFACESToxics Release Inventory · 1000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hayward'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 Hayward.
Total Sites
261
within ~10 miles of Hayward
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hayward
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hayward
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hayward, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 168 sites within ~10 miles of Hayward. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Hayward
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 Hayward average
Your land is one point inside Hayward
Everything above resolves to Hayward as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Hayward Average
Hayward Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Hayward
- ●One soil character for all of Hayward
- ●Frost dates read at Hayward's scale: May 7 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hayward's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hayward
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hayward, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hayward averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hayward — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hayward average
How we know this about Hayward
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 Hayward’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 Hayward
When does frost risk typically end in Hayward?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hayward typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Hayward?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hayward typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hayward?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hayward sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 18, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hayward?
The federal record around Hayward is a meaningful one — 261 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (168), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Hayward?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Hayward rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 7 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Hayward's scale — its 4a band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hayward'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 Hayward’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hayward's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,385 acres it covers and 261 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hayward's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hayward's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 2 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 261 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hayward, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hayward's boundary and the 2,385 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hayward'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 Hayward's 2,385 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sawyer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sawyer 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 Sawyer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hayward's 2,385 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hayward you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,385 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 Hayward-wide figureread your own land →