Little Round Lake, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Little Round Lake, 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 Little Round Lake 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 Little Round Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Little Round Lake — the short answer
Little Round Lake, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 146 days between hard freezes, across 6K 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 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~146
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 6K 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 Little Round Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Little Round Lake's 146-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Little Round Lake
Each reading below is measured for Little Round Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLittle Round Lake runs about 146 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
MeasuredLittle Round Lake 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 Little Round Lake is in
Little Round Lake sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Little Round Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sawyer County.
What Grows in Little Round Lake
Every plant below cleared Little Round Lake's own zone 4a and its 146-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Little Round Lake?
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 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 3 — 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 Little Round Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Little Round Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- L.C.O. SCHOOLSBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- Lco Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Lco Convenience CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Lco C-2Underground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL #18814Brownfields · 2.1 mi
- ULTIMATE AUTO BODY LLCBrownfields · 2.2 mi
- KIEFERS PINE GROVE RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- LCO QUICKSTOPBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- BAYSIDE LODGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- SWEDENS RESTAURANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- CHEVRON USA PRODUCTS CO 204215Brownfields · 3.0 mi
- GRAND PINES RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Little Round Lake'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 Little Round Lake.
Total Sites
286
within ~10 miles of Little Round Lake
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Little Round Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Little Round Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Little Round Lake, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 201 sites within ~10 miles of Little Round Lake. 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 Little Round Lake
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 Little Round Lake average
Your land is one point inside Little Round Lake
Everything above resolves to Little Round Lake as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K 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 Little Round Lake Average
Little Round Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Little Round Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Little Round Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Little Round Lake's scale: May 10 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Little Round Lake's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Little Round Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Little Round Lake, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Little Round Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Little Round Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Little Round Lake average
How we know this about Little Round Lake
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 Little Round Lake’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 Little Round Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Little Round Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Little Round Lake 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 Little Round Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Little Round Lake typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 146 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Little Round Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Little Round Lake sees about 146 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 19, about 111 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Little Round Lake?
The federal record around Little Round Lake is a meaningful one — 286 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (201), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.0 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 Little Round Lake?
With about 146 frost-free days between hard freezes, Little Round Lake 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 174 to 202 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 Little Round Lake's scale — its 4a band and its 146-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Little Round Lake'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 Little Round Lake’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Little Round Lake's own scale — its own ~146-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,762 acres it covers and 286 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Little Round Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Little Round Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 3 and the ~146-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 286 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Little Round Lake, the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Little Round Lake's boundary and the 5,762 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~146-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Little Round Lake'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 Little Round Lake's 5,762 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sawyer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sawyer 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 Sawyer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Little Round Lake's 5,762 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Little Round Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,762 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.0 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 Little Round Lake-wide figureread your own land →
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