Alpha, Michigan, 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.
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 Alpha, 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 Alpha 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 Alpha — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Alpha — the short answer
Alpha, Michigan: USDA zone 4b, about 133 days between hard freezes, across 604 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~133
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 604 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 Alpha's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Alpha's 133-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Alpha
Each reading below is measured for Alpha itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAlpha runs about 133 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
MeasuredAlpha 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 Alpha is in
Alpha sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Alpha's own centroid rather than borrowed from Iron County.
What Grows in Alpha
Every plant below cleared Alpha's own zone 4b and its 133-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Alpha?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 29 — 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 Alpha
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Alpha. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 424 StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Mastodon Twp (garage Area)Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Village Of AlphaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- KayoUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- MdotUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Mdot-carpenter Mine LocationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- 42N 33W 35ABB 01Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- DnrUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- IRON COUNTY MEDICAL CARE FACILITYBrownfields · 3.4 mi
- MI DEPT/NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTBrownfields · 3.7 mi
- Gust WaldoUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Iron County Road CommissionUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Alpha'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 Alpha.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Alpha
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Alpha
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Alpha
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 Alpha average
Your land is one point inside Alpha
Everything above resolves to Alpha as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 604 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 Alpha Average
Alpha Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Alpha
- ●One soil character for all of Alpha
- ●Frost dates read at Alpha's scale: May 19 to Sep 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Alpha's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Alpha
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Alpha, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Alpha averages can't show:
We read public map data around Alpha — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Alpha average
How we know this about Alpha
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 Alpha’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 Alpha
When does frost risk typically end in Alpha?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Alpha typically lands around May 19, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Alpha?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Alpha typically arrives around Sep 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 15, so the watching starts about Aug 30 — about 133 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Alpha?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Alpha sees about 133 frost-free days — roughly May 19 through Sep 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 9 to Sep 15, about 98 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Alpha?
The federal record around Alpha is light — 49 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (25), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Alpha?
With about 133 frost-free days between hard freezes, Alpha 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 161 to 189 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 19 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Alpha's scale — its 4b band and its 133-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Alpha'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 Alpha’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Alpha's own scale — its own ~133-day season between 28°F freezes, the 604 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Alpha's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Alpha's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 19 and Sep 29 and the ~133-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Alpha, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Alpha's boundary and the 604 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~133-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Alpha'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 Alpha's 604 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Iron County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Iron County
- The growing challenges every Michigan grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Michigan
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Iron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Alpha's 604 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Alpha you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 604 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 Alpha-wide figureread your own land →
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