Bergland, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Bergland, 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 Bergland 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 Bergland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bergland — the short answer
Bergland, Michigan: USDA zone 4b, about 143 days between hard freezes, across 467 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~143
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 467 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 Bergland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bergland's 143-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bergland
Each reading below is measured for Bergland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBergland runs about 143 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
MeasuredBergland 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 Bergland is in
Bergland sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Bergland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ontonagon County.
What Grows in Bergland
Every plant below cleared Bergland's own zone 4b and its 143-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bergland?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Bergland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bergland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Bergland FoodsUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Lake Gogebic OutpostUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Ewen-trout Creek School Dist.Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- 48N 42W 04BADB01 ONTNGNNitrate · 2600 ft
- Ontonagon County Road CommissionUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 48N 42W 03BCAD01 ONTONAGON CO (BERGLAND DAM)Nitrate · 1.3 mi
- RUSS NORDINE TRUCKING & CONTRACTING COBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- Maple Ridge Motel & BaitUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- COUNTY OF ONTONAGON ROAD COMMISSIONBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- Hoop 'n Holler IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- Bergland Road Commission GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- 48N 43W 13CDDA 01 ONTONAGON CO (CO PARK)Nitrate · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bergland'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 Bergland.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bergland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bergland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bergland, Mining runs higher than the national average — 9 sites within ~10 miles of Bergland. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Bergland
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 Bergland average
Your land is one point inside Bergland
Everything above resolves to Bergland as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 467 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 Bergland Average
Bergland Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Bergland
- ●One soil character for all of Bergland
- ●Frost dates read at Bergland's scale: May 14 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bergland's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bergland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bergland, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bergland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bergland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bergland average
How we know this about Bergland
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 Bergland’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 Bergland
When does frost risk typically end in Bergland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bergland typically lands around May 14, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Bergland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bergland typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 143 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bergland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bergland sees about 143 frost-free days — roughly May 14 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 4 to Sep 20, about 108 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bergland?
The federal record around Bergland is light — 32 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Bergland?
With about 143 frost-free days between hard freezes, Bergland 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 171 to 199 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 14 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Bergland's scale — its 4b band and its 143-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bergland'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 Bergland’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bergland's own scale — its own ~143-day season between 28°F freezes, the 467 acres it covers and 32 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bergland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bergland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 14 and Oct 4 and the ~143-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 32 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bergland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bergland's boundary and the 467 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~143-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bergland'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 Bergland's 467 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ontonagon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ontonagon 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 Ontonagon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bergland's 467 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bergland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 467 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Bergland-wide figureread your own land →
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