Wabeno, 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, cilantro, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wabeno, 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 Wabeno 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 Wabeno — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wabeno — the short answer
Wabeno, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- 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
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Wabeno's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wabeno's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wabeno
Each reading below is measured for Wabeno itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWabeno runs about 149 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
MeasuredWabeno 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 Wabeno is in
Wabeno sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Wabeno's own centroid rather than borrowed from Forest County.
What Grows in Wabeno
Every plant below cleared Wabeno's own zone 4b and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wabeno?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (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. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Wabeno
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wabeno. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GEORGES SELF SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Town Of WabenoUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Amoco TerminalUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Ico Potawatomi ConvenienceUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Piontek Brothers Trucking IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- CARTER BARUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- ALBERT ASHBECKUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- GEORGE CALLASUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CONN WALD LUMBER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- ROLAND KORTBIEN SRUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- RENKAS DIST COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- PHIL GLASLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wabeno'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 Wabeno.
Total Sites
110
within ~10 miles of Wabeno
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wabeno
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wabeno
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wabeno, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Wabeno — Superfund (3 sites) and Nitrate (40 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Wabeno
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 Wabeno average
Your land is one point inside Wabeno
Everything above resolves to Wabeno as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Wabeno Average
Wabeno Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Wabeno
- ●One soil character for all of Wabeno
- ●Frost dates read at Wabeno's scale: May 11 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wabeno's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wabeno
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wabeno, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wabeno averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wabeno — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wabeno average
How we know this about Wabeno
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 Wabeno’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 Wabeno
When does frost risk typically end in Wabeno?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wabeno typically lands around May 11, 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 Jun 1.
When is the first frost in Wabeno?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wabeno 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 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wabeno?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wabeno sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 23, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wabeno?
The federal record around Wabeno is a meaningful one — 110 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (62), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 gardeners stretch the season in Wabeno?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Wabeno 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 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 11 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Wabeno's scale — its 4b band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wabeno'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 Wabeno’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wabeno's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,528 acres it covers and 110 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wabeno's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wabeno's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Oct 7 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 110 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wabeno, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wabeno's boundary and the 1,528 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wabeno'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 Wabeno's 1,528 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Forest County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Forest 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 Forest County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wabeno's 1,528 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wabeno you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,528 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Wabeno-wide figureread your own land →
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