Summit Lake, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Summit 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 Summit 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 Summit Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Summit Lake — the short answer
Summit Lake, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 513 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 513 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 Summit Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Summit Lake's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Summit Lake
Each reading below is measured for Summit Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSummit Lake runs about 151 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
MeasuredSummit Lake 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 Summit Lake is in
Summit Lake sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Summit Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Langlade County.
What Grows in Summit Lake
Every plant below cleared Summit Lake's own zone 4b and its 151-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Summit Lake?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 Summit Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Summit Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Thomas AmburgyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- KNIGHTS TEMPLER CLUBUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SUMMIT LAKE GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Summit Lake Gas - N - Go LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- DNR SUMMIT LAKE RANGER STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- LA-34/10E/35-0700Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- DAN WINKUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- RAITH BROS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- LA-34/10E/25-0673Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- LA-33/10E/04-1115Nitrate · 2.5 mi
- Remington Oil Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- BUILDERS SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Summit 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 Summit Lake.
Total Sites
104
within ~10 miles of Summit Lake
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Summit Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Summit Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Summit Lake, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Summit Lake. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Summit 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 Summit Lake average
Your land is one point inside Summit Lake
Everything above resolves to Summit Lake as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 513 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 Summit Lake Average
Summit Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Summit Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Summit Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Summit Lake's scale: May 9 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Summit Lake's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Summit Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Summit Lake, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Summit Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Summit Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Summit Lake average
How we know this about Summit 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 Summit 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 Summit Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Summit Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Summit Lake typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Summit Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Summit Lake typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Summit Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Summit Lake sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 23, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Summit Lake?
The federal record around Summit Lake shows 104 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (61), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Summit Lake?
From about Sep 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 Oct 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Summit Lake's scale — its 4b band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Summit 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 Summit Lake’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Summit Lake's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 513 acres it covers and 104 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Summit Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Summit Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 7 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 104 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Summit Lake, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Summit Lake's boundary and the 513 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Summit 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 Summit Lake's 513 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Langlade County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Langlade 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 Langlade County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Summit Lake's 513 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Summit 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 513 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 Summit Lake-wide figureread your own land →
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