Racine, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Racine, 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 Racine 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 Racine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Racine — the short answer
Racine, Wisconsin: USDA zone 6a, about 213 days between hard freezes, across 10K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~213
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 10K 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 6a is Racine's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Racine's 213-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Racine
Each reading below is measured for Racine itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRacine runs about 213 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRacine sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Racine is in
Racine sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Racine's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Racine County is mostly Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Racine
Every plant below cleared Racine's own zone 6a and its 213-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Racine?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Racine
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Racine. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HOLY CROSS CEMETARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- WI DEPT OF TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- EXECUTIVE DRYCLEANINGBrownfields · 2000 ft
- GRACELAND CEMETERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CVS PHARMACY #8776Brownfields · 2300 ft
- WISCONSIN MUFFLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- BOB KELLEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- INFUSINOS PIZZERIAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Open Pantry #493Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- HILGERS WEST RACINE SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- PARK HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Spring Street MobilUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Racine'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 Racine.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Racine
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Racine
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Racine, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 76 sites within ~10 miles of Racine. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Racine
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 Racine average
Your land is one point inside Racine
Everything above resolves to Racine as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 10K 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 Racine Average
Racine Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Racine
- ●One soil character for all of Racine
- ●Frost dates read at Racine's scale: Apr 7 to Nov 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Racine's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Racine
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Racine, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Racine averages can't show:
We read public map data around Racine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Racine average
How we know this about Racine
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 Racine’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 Racine
When does frost risk typically end in Racine?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Racine typically lands around Apr 7, 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 Apr 28.
When is the first frost in Racine?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Racine typically arrives around Nov 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 23, so the watching starts about Oct 7 — about 213 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Racine?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Racine sees about 213 frost-free days — roughly Apr 7 through Nov 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 28 to Oct 23, about 178 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Racine?
The federal record around Racine is a meaningful one — 1,207 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (685), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Racine?
From about Oct 7 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 Nov 6 (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 Nov 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Racine's scale — its 6a band and its 213-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Racine'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 Racine’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Racine's own scale — its own ~213-day season between 28°F freezes, the 9,902 acres it covers and 1,207 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Racine's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Racine's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 7 and Nov 6 and the ~213-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,207 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Racine, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Racine's boundary and the 9,902 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~213-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Racine sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Racine's 9,902 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Racine County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Racine 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 Racine County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Racine's 9,902 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Racine you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 9,902 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Racine-wide figureread your own land →