Stone Lake, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Stone Lake, 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 Stone Lake 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 Stone Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Stone Lake — the short answer
Stone Lake, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 602 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 602 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 4a is Stone Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stone Lake's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stone Lake
Each reading below is measured for Stone Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredStone Lake runs about 148 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredStone Lake sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Stone Lake is in
Stone Lake sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Stone Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washburn County.
What Grows in Stone Lake
Every plant below cleared Stone Lake's own zone 4a and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Stone Lake?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Stone Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stone Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WB-39/10W/25-0023Nitrate · 2500 ft
- GEMSTONE GOLDSMITHSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DEBUS HARDWAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- OLD CREAMERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Jacks Std ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- S & S AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- TOWN OF SAND LAKEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- KISSINGER TREE FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- NORTH SPORTS AUTOUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- STONE LAKE CAR HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Jim PejkaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Thors Supper Club IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stone Lake'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 Stone Lake.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stone Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stone Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Stone Lake, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 51 sites within ~10 miles of Stone Lake. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Stone Lake
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 Stone Lake average
Your land is one point inside Stone Lake
Everything above resolves to Stone Lake as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 602 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 Stone Lake Average
Stone Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Stone Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Stone Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Stone Lake's scale: May 7 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stone Lake's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stone Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stone Lake, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stone Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stone Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stone Lake average
How we know this about Stone Lake
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 Stone Lake’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 Stone Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Stone Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stone Lake typically lands around May 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 May 28.
When is the first frost in Stone Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stone Lake typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Stone Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stone Lake sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 18, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Stone Lake?
The federal record around Stone Lake shows 77 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (51), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 gardeners stretch the season in Stone Lake?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Stone Lake rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 7 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Stone Lake's scale — its 4a band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stone Lake'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 Stone Lake’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Stone Lake's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 602 acres it covers and 77 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stone Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Stone Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 2 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 77 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stone Lake, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stone Lake's boundary and the 602 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Stone Lake's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Stone Lake's 602 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washburn County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washburn 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 Washburn County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Stone Lake's 602 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stone Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 602 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 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 Stone Lake-wide figureread your own land →