Krakow, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Krakow, 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 Krakow 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 Krakow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Krakow — the short answer
Krakow, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 174 days between hard freezes, across 722 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- 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
- ~174
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 722 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 5a is Krakow's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Krakow's 174-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Krakow
Each reading below is measured for Krakow itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKrakow runs about 174 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
MeasuredKrakow sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Krakow is in
Krakow sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Krakow's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shawano County.
What Grows in Krakow
Every plant below cleared Krakow's own zone 5a and its 174-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Krakow?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Krakow
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Krakow. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CHETS KRAKOW INNUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- KURZ ELECTRIC OF APPLETONUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- BB FEED MILL & HARDWARE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Loretta GrychUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- BOBS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Ajs Convenience LLC A/K/A Route 32Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- BELGIOIOSO CHEESE FIELD (AC-1)Toxics Release Inventory · 0.9 mi
- CALVIN GOHR 2Toxics Release Inventory · 1.1 mi
- GREEN VALLEY DAIRY LLCCAFO · 1.7 mi
- GARTH BERTZUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- Vacant Farm BldgsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- ERVIN LAMBRECHT GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Krakow'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 Krakow.
Total Sites
325
within ~10 miles of Krakow
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
19 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Krakow
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Krakow
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Krakow, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Krakow — CAFO (6 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (226 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Krakow
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 Krakow average
Your land is one point inside Krakow
Everything above resolves to Krakow as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 722 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 Krakow Average
Krakow Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Krakow
- ●One soil character for all of Krakow
- ●Frost dates read at Krakow's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Krakow's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Krakow
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Krakow, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Krakow averages can't show:
We read public map data around Krakow — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Krakow average
How we know this about Krakow
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 Krakow’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 Krakow
When does frost risk typically end in Krakow?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Krakow typically lands around Apr 25, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Krakow?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Krakow 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 174 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Krakow?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Krakow sees about 174 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Oct 2, about 139 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Krakow?
The federal record around Krakow is a meaningful one — 325 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (226), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Krakow?
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 Krakow's scale — its 5a band and its 174-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Krakow'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 Krakow’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Krakow's own scale — its own ~174-day season between 28°F freezes, the 722 acres it covers and 325 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Krakow's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Krakow's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 16 and the ~174-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 325 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Krakow, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Krakow's boundary and the 722 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~174-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Krakow's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Krakow's 722 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shawano County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shawano 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 Shawano County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Krakow's 722 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Krakow you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 722 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 Krakow-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinKrakow sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides