Mattoon, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Mattoon, 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 Mattoon 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 Mattoon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mattoon — the short answer
Mattoon, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- 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 4b is Mattoon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mattoon's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mattoon
Each reading below is measured for Mattoon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMattoon runs about 157 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
MeasuredMattoon 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 Mattoon is in
Mattoon sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Mattoon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shawano County.
What Grows in Mattoon
Every plant below cleared Mattoon's own zone 4b and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mattoon?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Mattoon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mattoon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WISCONSIN VENEER & PLYWOOD INCToxics Release Inventory · 750 ft
- WISCONSIN VENEER AND PLYWOOD INC.Toxics Release Inventory · 1100 ft
- Village PumpUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- OWEN SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- ALAN ANDRUSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- RICHARD N SCHMIDTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- FRANCIS VERHASSELTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- TEALS FOLIAGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- LA-30/12E/26-2081Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- CURTIS THIEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- PHLOX GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- PHLOX SHELL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mattoon'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 Mattoon.
Total Sites
165
within ~10 miles of Mattoon
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mattoon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mattoon
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Mattoon
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 Mattoon average
Your land is one point inside Mattoon
Everything above resolves to Mattoon 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 Mattoon Average
Mattoon Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Mattoon
- ●One soil character for all of Mattoon
- ●Frost dates read at Mattoon's scale: May 4 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mattoon's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mattoon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mattoon, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mattoon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mattoon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mattoon average
How we know this about Mattoon
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 Mattoon’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 Mattoon
When does frost risk typically end in Mattoon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mattoon typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Mattoon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mattoon typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mattoon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mattoon sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 24, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mattoon?
The federal record around Mattoon is a meaningful one — 165 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (99), the nearest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.1 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 I protect my plants from frost in Mattoon?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mattoon's scale — its 4b band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mattoon'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 Mattoon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mattoon's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,041 acres it covers and 165 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mattoon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mattoon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 8 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 165 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mattoon, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mattoon's boundary and the 1,041 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mattoon'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 Mattoon's 1,041 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 Mattoon's 1,041 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mattoon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,041 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.1 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 Mattoon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinMattoon sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides