Spencer, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Spencer, 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 Spencer 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 Spencer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Spencer — the short answer
Spencer, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- 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 Spencer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Spencer's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Spencer
Each reading below is measured for Spencer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSpencer runs about 173 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
MeasuredSpencer 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 Spencer is in
Spencer sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Spencer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marathon County.
What Grows in Spencer
Every plant below cleared Spencer's own zone 4b and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Spencer?
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 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — 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 Spencer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Spencer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- C WAY INDUSTRIES INCBrownfields · 350 ft
- SPENCER COLD STORAGE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- LAND OLAKES SPENCERBrownfields · 600 ft
- LAND OLAKES SPENCERToxics Release Inventory · 600 ft
- SPENCER CAR HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #10715Brownfields · 1200 ft
- Spencer CitgoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- CUTTING MASTERSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- JENSEN MOTORS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- GTE - SPENCERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- SPENCER DRUM - STREBE PROPERTYSuperfund · 1600 ft
- HEAVENLY CLEAN AUTO WASHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Spencer'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 Spencer.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Spencer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Spencer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Spencer, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Spencer — CAFO (6 sites) and Superfund (6 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.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Spencer
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 Spencer average
Your land is one point inside Spencer
Everything above resolves to Spencer 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 Spencer Average
Spencer Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Spencer
- ●One soil character for all of Spencer
- ●Frost dates read at Spencer's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Spencer's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Spencer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Spencer, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Spencer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Spencer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Spencer average
How we know this about Spencer
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 Spencer’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 Spencer
When does frost risk typically end in Spencer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Spencer typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Spencer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Spencer typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Spencer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Spencer sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Sep 30, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Spencer?
The federal record around Spencer is a meaningful one — 328 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (209), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Spencer?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Spencer's scale — its 4b band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Spencer'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 Spencer’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Spencer's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,261 acres it covers and 328 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Spencer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Spencer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 14 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 328 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Spencer, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Spencer's boundary and the 1,261 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Spencer'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 Spencer's 1,261 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marathon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marathon 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 Marathon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Spencer's 1,261 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Spencer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,261 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Spencer-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinSpencer sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides