Constantine, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Constantine, 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 Constantine 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 Constantine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Constantine — the short answer
Constantine, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 194 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~194
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 6a is Constantine's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Constantine's 194-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Constantine
Each reading below is measured for Constantine itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredConstantine runs about 194 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
MeasuredConstantine sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Constantine is in
Constantine sits in the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Constantine's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Joseph County.
What Grows in Constantine
Every plant below cleared Constantine's own zone 6a and its 194-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Constantine?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — 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.
Documented around Constantine
Spotted lanternfly documented 10 miles from Constantine, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Constantine
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Constantine. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CONSTANTINE SCHOOLSBrownfields · 950 ft
- Constantine Public SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- St Joseph Valley Dental ClinicUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Express AmericaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- VAUPELL MOLDING & TOOLINGBrownfields · 1500 ft
- St. Joseph CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- MMPA-CONSTANTINE PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 2000 ft
- MMPA-CONSTANTINE PLANTBrownfields · 2000 ft
- M.m.p.a.Underground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Spade Fuel ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- SHELL SPEE-D-MART WALTERS-DIMMICK PETROLEUM INCBrownfields · 2300 ft
- Jit Food & Gas IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Constantine'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 Constantine.
Total Sites
287
within ~10 miles of Constantine
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Constantine
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Constantine
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Constantine, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 31 sites within ~10 miles of Constantine. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Constantine
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 Constantine average
Your land is one point inside Constantine
Everything above resolves to Constantine as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Constantine Average
Constantine Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Constantine
- ●One soil character for all of Constantine
- ●Frost dates read at Constantine's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Constantine's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Constantine
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Constantine, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Constantine averages can't show:
We read public map data around Constantine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Constantine average
How we know this about Constantine
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 Constantine’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 Constantine
When does frost risk typically end in Constantine?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Constantine typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Constantine?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Constantine typically arrives around Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 14, so the watching starts about Sep 28 — about 194 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Constantine?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Constantine sees about 194 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 14, about 159 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Constantine?
The federal record around Constantine is a meaningful one — 287 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (153), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles 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 I protect my plants from frost in Constantine?
From about Sep 28 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Constantine's scale — its 6a band and its 194-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Constantine'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 Constantine’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Constantine's own scale — its own ~194-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,047 acres it covers and 287 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Constantine's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Constantine's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 28 and the ~194-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 287 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Constantine, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Constantine's boundary and the 1,047 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~194-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Constantine's own centroid, the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Constantinelydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Constantine's 1,047 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Joseph County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Joseph 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 St. Joseph County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Constantine's 1,047 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Constantine you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,047 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 Constantine-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganConstantine sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides