Tomahawk, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tomahawk, 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 Tomahawk 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 Tomahawk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Tomahawk — the short answer
Tomahawk, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 152 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- 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 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~152
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 5K 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 Tomahawk's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tomahawk's 152-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tomahawk
Each reading below is measured for Tomahawk itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTomahawk runs about 152 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
MeasuredTomahawk 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 Tomahawk is in
Tomahawk sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Tomahawk's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Tomahawk
Every plant below cleared Tomahawk's own zone 4a and its 152-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tomahawk?
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 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 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Tomahawk
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tomahawk. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOMAHAWK HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 800 ft
- RICHARD H TURNBELLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- TOMAHAWK HEALTH SERVICESBrownfields · 2100 ft
- HARLEY DAVIDSON MOTOR COMPANY-TOMAHAWK SToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- HARLEY DAVIDSON MOTOR COMPANY-TOMAHAWK SBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- RIVERVIEW HEALTH SERVICESBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- CAREHERE! A PREMISE HEALTH COMPANY EHEALTH CENTERBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- KWAHMOT SKI CLUB/CTY TOMAHAWKUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- LAWRENCE VOERMANSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- California Nurses Educational InstituteUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Chucks SportshopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Kwik Trip #119Underground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tomahawk'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 Tomahawk.
Total Sites
188
within ~10 miles of Tomahawk
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tomahawk
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tomahawk
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tomahawk, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 139 sites within ~10 miles of Tomahawk. 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 Tomahawk
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 Tomahawk average
Your land is one point inside Tomahawk
Everything above resolves to Tomahawk as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Tomahawk Average
Tomahawk Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Tomahawk
- ●One soil character for all of Tomahawk
- ●Frost dates read at Tomahawk's scale: May 7 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tomahawk's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tomahawk
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tomahawk, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tomahawk averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tomahawk — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tomahawk average
How we know this about Tomahawk
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 Tomahawk’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 Tomahawk
When does frost risk typically end in Tomahawk?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tomahawk 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 Tomahawk?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tomahawk typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 152 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tomahawk?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tomahawk sees about 152 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 22, about 117 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tomahawk?
The federal record around Tomahawk shows 188 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (139), the nearest Brownfields 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 Tomahawk?
From about Sep 6 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 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 Oct 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tomahawk's scale — its 4a band and its 152-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tomahawk'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 Tomahawk’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Tomahawk's own scale — its own ~152-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,028 acres it covers and 188 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tomahawk's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Tomahawk's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 6 and the ~152-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 188 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tomahawk, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tomahawk's boundary and the 5,028 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~152-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tomahawk'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 Tomahawk's 5,028 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tomahawk's 5,028 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tomahawk you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,028 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Tomahawk-wide figureread your own land →