Ridgeland, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ridgeland, 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 Ridgeland 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 Ridgeland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ridgeland — the short answer
Ridgeland, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 294 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- 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
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 294 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 Ridgeland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ridgeland's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ridgeland
Each reading below is measured for Ridgeland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRidgeland runs about 161 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
MeasuredRidgeland 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 Ridgeland is in
Ridgeland sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ridgeland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dunn County.
What Grows in Ridgeland
Every plant below cleared Ridgeland's own zone 4b and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ridgeland?
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 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (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 Ridgeland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ridgeland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GERRYS CORNER STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- FOSTERS CORNER STORE LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- RIDGELAND IMPLEMENTBrownfields · 2000 ft
- RIDGELAND VET SERVICE SCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- RIDGELAND IMPLEMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Richard GriffithUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- LUERS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- DUNN COUNTY HWY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- FARMERS UNIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Glynns Drive InUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- RIDGELAND FARMERS UNION COOPBrownfields · 2400 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #20469Brownfields · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ridgeland'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 Ridgeland.
Total Sites
90
within ~10 miles of Ridgeland
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ridgeland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ridgeland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ridgeland, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 61 sites within ~10 miles of Ridgeland. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Ridgeland
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 Ridgeland average
Your land is one point inside Ridgeland
Everything above resolves to Ridgeland as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 294 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 Ridgeland Average
Ridgeland Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Ridgeland
- ●One soil character for all of Ridgeland
- ●Frost dates read at Ridgeland's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ridgeland's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ridgeland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ridgeland, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ridgeland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ridgeland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ridgeland average
How we know this about Ridgeland
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 Ridgeland’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 Ridgeland
When does frost risk typically end in Ridgeland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ridgeland typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Ridgeland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ridgeland 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 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ridgeland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ridgeland sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Sep 24, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ridgeland?
The federal record around Ridgeland shows 90 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (61), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Ridgeland?
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 Ridgeland's scale — its 4b band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ridgeland'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 Ridgeland’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ridgeland's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes, the 294 acres it covers and 90 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ridgeland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ridgeland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 8 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 90 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ridgeland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ridgeland's boundary and the 294 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ridgeland'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 Ridgeland's 294 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dunn County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dunn 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 Dunn County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ridgeland's 294 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ridgeland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 294 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Ridgeland-wide figureread your own land →
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