Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Lake Tomahawk, 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 Lake Tomahawk 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 Lake Tomahawk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lake Tomahawk — the short answer
Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 145 days between hard freezes, across 988 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~145
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 988 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 Lake Tomahawk's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lake Tomahawk's 145-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lake Tomahawk
Each reading below is measured for Lake Tomahawk itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLake Tomahawk runs about 145 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
MeasuredLake Tomahawk 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 Lake Tomahawk is in
Lake Tomahawk sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Lake Tomahawk's own centroid rather than borrowed from Oneida County.
What Grows in Lake Tomahawk
Every plant below cleared Lake Tomahawk's own zone 4a and its 145-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lake Tomahawk?
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 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Lake Tomahawk
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lake Tomahawk. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOWN OF LAKE TOMAHAWKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- NEW TOM SNO FLEASUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- LAKE TOMAHAWK MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Adamski RealtyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- DANITA MARINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- MARATHON GAS UPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Lake Tomahawk BpUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Masa CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- DNR LK TOMAHAWK RANGER STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BOB DUNBAR EXCAVATINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- COFFENS STANDARD SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Bob Thrall Marine CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lake Tomahawk'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 Lake Tomahawk.
Total Sites
275
within ~10 miles of Lake Tomahawk
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lake Tomahawk
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lake Tomahawk
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lake Tomahawk, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 224 sites within ~10 miles of Lake Tomahawk. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Lake Tomahawk
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 Lake Tomahawk average
Your land is one point inside Lake Tomahawk
Everything above resolves to Lake Tomahawk as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 988 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 Lake Tomahawk Average
Lake Tomahawk Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Lake Tomahawk
- ●One soil character for all of Lake Tomahawk
- ●Frost dates read at Lake Tomahawk's scale: May 12 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lake Tomahawk's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lake Tomahawk
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lake Tomahawk, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lake Tomahawk averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lake Tomahawk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lake Tomahawk average
How we know this about Lake Tomahawk
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 Lake Tomahawk’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 Lake Tomahawk
When does frost risk typically end in Lake Tomahawk?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Tomahawk typically lands around May 12, 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 Jun 2.
When is the first frost in Lake Tomahawk?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lake Tomahawk typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 145 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lake Tomahawk?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lake Tomahawk sees about 145 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 20, about 110 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lake Tomahawk?
The federal record around Lake Tomahawk is a meaningful one — 275 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (224), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Lake Tomahawk?
With about 145 frost-free days between hard freezes, Lake Tomahawk 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 173 to 201 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 12 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Lake Tomahawk's scale — its 4a band and its 145-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lake Tomahawk'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 Lake Tomahawk’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lake Tomahawk's own scale — its own ~145-day season between 28°F freezes, the 988 acres it covers and 275 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lake Tomahawk's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lake Tomahawk's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Oct 4 and the ~145-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 275 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lake Tomahawk, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lake Tomahawk's boundary and the 988 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~145-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lake Tomahawk'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 Lake Tomahawk's 988 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Oneida County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Oneida 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 Oneida County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lake Tomahawk's 988 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lake Tomahawk you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 988 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 Lake Tomahawk-wide figureread your own land →
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