Kennan, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kennan, 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 Kennan 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 Kennan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Kennan — the short answer
Kennan, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- 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 Kennan's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kennan's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kennan
Each reading below is measured for Kennan itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKennan 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
MeasuredKennan 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 Kennan is in
Kennan sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Kennan's own centroid rather than borrowed from Price County.
What Grows in Kennan
Every plant below cleared Kennan'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 Kennan?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Kennan
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kennan. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BADER STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Schancers GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- OLIVER LIBALUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Mc Cormick & Mc Cormick IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Elaine KeisnerUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- KEN & LUS PAIR A DICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Rudys Standard ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Hans E AndersonUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Mix Rite Feed Mill IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Pair A Dice InnUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Town Of KennanUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- CATAWBA MIDDLE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kennan'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 Kennan.
Total Sites
38
within ~10 miles of Kennan
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kennan
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kennan
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kennan, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 32 sites within ~10 miles of Kennan. 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 Kennan
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 Kennan average
Your land is one point inside Kennan
Everything above resolves to Kennan 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 Kennan Average
Kennan Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Kennan
- ●One soil character for all of Kennan
- ●Frost dates read at Kennan's scale: May 10 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kennan's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kennan
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kennan, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kennan averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kennan — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kennan average
How we know this about Kennan
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 Kennan’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 Kennan
When does frost risk typically end in Kennan?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kennan typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Kennan?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kennan typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kennan?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kennan sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 21, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kennan?
The federal record around Kennan is light — 38 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (32), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Kennan?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Kennan 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 10 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Kennan's scale — its 4a band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kennan'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 Kennan’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Kennan's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,270 acres it covers and 38 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kennan's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kennan's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 5 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 38 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kennan, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kennan's boundary and the 1,270 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 Kennan'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 Kennan's 1,270 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Price County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Price 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 Price County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kennan's 1,270 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kennan you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,270 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Kennan-wide figureread your own land →
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