Montello, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Montello, 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 Montello 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 Montello — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Montello — the short answer
Montello, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 172 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- 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
- ~172
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 5a is Montello's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Montello's 172-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Montello
Each reading below is measured for Montello itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMontello runs about 172 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
MeasuredMontello 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 Montello is in
Montello sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Montello's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marquette County.
What Grows in Montello
Every plant below cleared Montello's own zone 5a and its 172-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Montello?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (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. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Montello
Spotted lanternfly documented 19 miles from Montello, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Montello
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Montello. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TIMOTHY J KRUEGERUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- MARQUETTE COUNTY SHERIFFS DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- CONDON OILBrownfields · 1200 ft
- MONTELLO PAYLESSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MARQUETTE CNTY CLNSWPBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Tims MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- LOG CABIN RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MECANS LITTLE OASISUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Wilbert SchumanUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- METCALF BROSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- KRAUSES RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- RICHARD KELMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Montello'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 Montello.
Total Sites
134
within ~10 miles of Montello
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Montello
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Montello
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Montello, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 91 sites within ~10 miles of Montello. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Montello
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 Montello average
Your land is one point inside Montello
Everything above resolves to Montello 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 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 Montello Average
Montello Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Montello
- ●One soil character for all of Montello
- ●Frost dates read at Montello's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Montello's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Montello
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Montello, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Montello averages can't show:
We read public map data around Montello — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Montello average
How we know this about Montello
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 Montello’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 Montello
When does frost risk typically end in Montello?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Montello typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Montello?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Montello 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 172 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Montello?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Montello sees about 172 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 1, about 137 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Montello?
The federal record around Montello is a meaningful one — 134 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (91), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Montello?
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 Montello's scale — its 5a band and its 172-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Montello'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 Montello’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Montello's own scale — its own ~172-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,256 acres it covers and 134 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Montello's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Montello's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 15 and the ~172-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 134 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Montello, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Montello's boundary and the 1,256 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~172-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Montello's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Montellolydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Montello's 1,256 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marquette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marquette 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 Marquette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Montello's 1,256 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Montello you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,256 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Montello-wide figureread your own land →