Muscoda, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Muscoda, 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 Muscoda 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 Muscoda — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Muscoda — the short answer
Muscoda, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 178 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- 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 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~178
- 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 Muscoda's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Muscoda's 178-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Muscoda
Each reading below is measured for Muscoda itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMuscoda runs about 178 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
MeasuredMuscoda 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 Muscoda is in
Muscoda sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Muscoda's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grant County.
What Grows in Muscoda
Every plant below cleared Muscoda's own zone 4b and its 178-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Muscoda?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 17 — 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 Muscoda
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Muscoda. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DURR UNIVERSAL INCToxics Release Inventory · 650 ft
- SCOT INDUSTRIES INCBrownfields · 900 ft
- SCOT INDUSTRIES INCToxics Release Inventory · 900 ft
- MUSCODA PROTEIN PRODUCTSToxics Release Inventory · 1000 ft
- MUSCODA PROTEIN PRODUCTS LLPBrownfields · 1000 ft
- MUSCUDA BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- MUSCODA BULK PLANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- BROADBENT OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- MATHEWS LUMBER CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- MEISTER CHEESE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Scot Industries IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- E-Z TRAIL INCBrownfields · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Muscoda'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 Muscoda.
Total Sites
179
within ~10 miles of Muscoda
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Muscoda
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Muscoda
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Muscoda, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Muscoda — CAFO (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (112 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Muscoda
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 Muscoda average
Your land is one point inside Muscoda
Everything above resolves to Muscoda 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 Muscoda Average
Muscoda Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Muscoda
- ●One soil character for all of Muscoda
- ●Frost dates read at Muscoda's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Muscoda's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Muscoda
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Muscoda, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Muscoda averages can't show:
We read public map data around Muscoda — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Muscoda average
How we know this about Muscoda
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 Muscoda’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 Muscoda
When does frost risk typically end in Muscoda?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Muscoda 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 Muscoda?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Muscoda typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 178 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Muscoda?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Muscoda sees about 178 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 3, about 143 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Muscoda?
The federal record around Muscoda is a meaningful one — 179 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (112), 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 Muscoda?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Muscoda's scale — its 4b band and its 178-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Muscoda'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 Muscoda’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Muscoda's own scale — its own ~178-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,025 acres it covers and 179 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Muscoda's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Muscoda's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 17 and the ~178-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 179 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Muscoda, the closest Toxics Release Inventory record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Muscoda's boundary and the 1,025 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~178-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Muscoda's own centroid, the Driftless AreaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Muscoda's 1,025 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grant County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grant 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 Grant County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Muscoda's 1,025 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Muscoda you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,025 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 Muscoda-wide figureread your own land →
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