Marshfield, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — 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, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Marshfield, 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 Marshfield 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 Marshfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Marshfield — the short answer
Marshfield, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 9K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 9K 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 Marshfield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Marshfield's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Marshfield
Each reading below is measured for Marshfield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMarshfield runs about 176 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
MeasuredMarshfield 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 Marshfield is in
Marshfield sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Marshfield's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wood County.
What Grows in Marshfield
Every plant below cleared Marshfield's own zone 4b and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Marshfield?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Marshfield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Marshfield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VERIZON COMMUNICATIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- DONS STANDARD SERVICEBrownfields · 550 ft
- DONS AUTOMOTIVEUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- RIGHT OF WAY - 113 E 4TH STUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- CREATIVE PAINTUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- HUSSMANN SERVICE & DESIGN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- RIGHT OF WAY - 111 E 2ND STUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- WOLF ELECTRICUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- SHERWIN-WILLIAMS #3845Brownfields · 1000 ft
- CITY OF MARSHFIELD ASH ST PARCELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- FORMER FILLING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- CITY OF MARSHFIELD RIGHT OF WAYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Marshfield'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 Marshfield.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Marshfield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Marshfield
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Marshfield, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Marshfield — CAFO (4 sites) and Superfund (5 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Marshfield
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 Marshfield average
Your land is one point inside Marshfield
Everything above resolves to Marshfield as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 9K 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 Marshfield Average
Marshfield Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Marshfield
- ●One soil character for all of Marshfield
- ●Frost dates read at Marshfield's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Marshfield's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Marshfield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Marshfield, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Marshfield averages can't show:
We read public map data around Marshfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Marshfield average
How we know this about Marshfield
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 Marshfield’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 Marshfield
When does frost risk typically end in Marshfield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Marshfield typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Marshfield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Marshfield typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Marshfield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Marshfield sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 1, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Marshfield?
The federal record around Marshfield is a meaningful one — 387 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (234), 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 Marshfield?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Marshfield's scale — its 4b band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Marshfield'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 Marshfield’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Marshfield's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 8,833 acres it covers and 387 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Marshfield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Marshfield's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 15 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 387 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Marshfield, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Marshfield's boundary and the 8,833 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Marshfield'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 Marshfield's 8,833 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wood County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wood 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 Wood County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Marshfield's 8,833 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Marshfield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,833 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 Marshfield-wide figureread your own land →
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