New Munster, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in New Munster, 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 New Munster 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 New Munster — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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New Munster — the short answer
New Munster, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5b, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 755 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 755 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 5b is New Munster's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against New Munster's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in New Munster
Each reading below is measured for New Munster itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNew Munster runs about 188 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
MeasuredNew Munster sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 New Munster is in
New Munster sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at New Munster's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kenosha County.
What Grows in New Munster
Every plant below cleared New Munster's own zone 5b and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in New Munster?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 New Munster
Closest first, within ~10 miles of New Munster. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Uhens Garage IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- KERKMAN BROS CONSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Raymond BruhaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Wheatland Convenience CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- WHEATLAND CENTER SCHOOL DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- RS USED OIL SERVICES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- PATRICIA URBONEHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- FRANK STRITZELUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- RICHARD TOPCZEWSKIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- FRANK LUEBKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- PATS SANITARY SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- WHEATLAND ESTATES MOBILE HOMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from New Munster'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 New Munster.
Total Sites
650
within ~10 miles of New Munster
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of New Munster
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of New Munster
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in New Munster
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 New Munster average
Your land is one point inside New Munster
Everything above resolves to New Munster as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 755 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 New Munster Average
New Munster Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across New Munster
- ●One soil character for all of New Munster
- ●Frost dates read at New Munster's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not New Munster's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in New Munster
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in New Munster, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that New Munster averages can't show:
We read public map data around New Munster — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the New Munster average
How we know this about New Munster
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 New Munster’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 New Munster
When does frost risk typically end in New Munster?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in New Munster typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in New Munster?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in New Munster typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in New Munster?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, New Munster sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 8, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in New Munster?
The federal record around New Munster is a meaningful one — 650 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (363), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 New Munster?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at New Munster's scale — its 5b band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of New Munster'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 New Munster’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at New Munster's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 755 acres it covers and 650 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- New Munster's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- New Munster's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 22 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 650 documented contamination sites on the federal record near New Munster, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- New Munster's boundary and the 755 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at New Munster's own centroid, the Southeastern Wisconsin Till PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so New Munster's 755 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kenosha County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kenosha 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 Kenosha County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among New Munster's 755 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of New Munster you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 755 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 New Munster-wide figureread your own land →