Independence, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Independence, 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 Independence 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 Independence — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Independence — the short answer
Independence, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Independence's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Independence's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Independence
Each reading below is measured for Independence itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredIndependence runs about 175 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
MeasuredIndependence 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 Independence is in
Independence sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Independence's own centroid rather than borrowed from Trempealeau County.
What Grows in Independence
Every plant below cleared Independence's own zone 4b and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Independence?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Independence
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Independence. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MALISZEWSKI DAIRY LLCCAFO · 2.0 mi
- EDWIN MALISZEWSKIUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Indee Mini MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- EDMUND HALAMA FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- S & S WOOD PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- INDEPENDENCE SCHOOL DISTBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- PIETREK SERVICE STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- POLZERS GAS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Peutoh Bros FarmsUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- SMIEJA FUR FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Dejno AcresUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Ephraim SlabyUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Independence'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 Independence.
Total Sites
192
within ~10 miles of Independence
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
14 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Independence
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Independence
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Independence, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 14 sites within ~10 miles of Independence. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Independence
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 Independence average
Your land is one point inside Independence
Everything above resolves to Independence as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Independence Average
Independence Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Independence
- ●One soil character for all of Independence
- ●Frost dates read at Independence's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Independence's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Independence
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Independence, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Independence averages can't show:
We read public map data around Independence — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Independence average
How we know this about Independence
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 Independence’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 Independence
When does frost risk typically end in Independence?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Independence typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Independence?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Independence typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Independence?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Independence sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 2, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Independence?
The federal record around Independence shows 192 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (117), the nearest CAFO record about 2.0 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Independence?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Independence's scale — its 4b band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Independence'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 Independence’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Independence's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,664 acres it covers and 192 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Independence's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Independence's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 16 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 192 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Independence, the closest CAFO record about 2.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Independence's boundary and the 2,664 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Independence's own centroid, the Driftless AreaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Independence's 2,664 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Trempealeau County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Trempealeau 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 Trempealeau County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Independence's 2,664 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Independence you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,664 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest CAFO record about 2.0 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 Independence-wide figureread your own land →
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