Hustler, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hustler, 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 Hustler 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 Hustler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hustler — the short answer
Hustler, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 447 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 447 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 4b is Hustler's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hustler's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hustler
Each reading below is measured for Hustler itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHustler runs about 165 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
MeasuredHustler sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Hustler is in
Hustler sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hustler's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Juneau County is mostly North Central Hardwood Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Hustler
Every plant below cleared Hustler's own zone 4b and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hustler?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Hustler
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hustler. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Hustle Stop LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- HUSTLER HARDWAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- PECKHAM MIDLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- COUNTRY VIEW ESTATESUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- STEVE AND CONNIE STORKELSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- VOLK FIELDSuperfund · 2.7 mi
- VOLK FIELDToxics Release Inventory · 2.7 mi
- W J BiresUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- VOLK FIELD BLDG #601Underground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- VOLK FIELD BLDG #530Underground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- VOLK FIELD BLDG #933Underground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- VOLK FIELD BLDG #616Underground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hustler'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 Hustler.
Total Sites
182
within ~10 miles of Hustler
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hustler
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hustler
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hustler, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 132 sites within ~10 miles of Hustler. 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 Hustler
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 Hustler average
Your land is one point inside Hustler
Everything above resolves to Hustler as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 447 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 Hustler Average
Hustler Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Hustler
- ●One soil character for all of Hustler
- ●Frost dates read at Hustler's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hustler's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hustler
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hustler, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hustler averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hustler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hustler average
How we know this about Hustler
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 Hustler’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 Hustler
When does frost risk typically end in Hustler?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hustler typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Hustler?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hustler typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hustler?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hustler sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Sep 27, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hustler?
The federal record around Hustler is a meaningful one — 182 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (132), 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 Hustler?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hustler's scale — its 4b band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hustler'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 Hustler’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hustler's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 447 acres it covers and 182 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hustler's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hustler's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 11 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 182 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hustler, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hustler's boundary and the 447 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Hustler sits in the Driftless Area — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hustler's 447 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Juneau County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Juneau 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 Juneau County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hustler's 447 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hustler you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 447 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 Hustler-wide figureread your own land →
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