Baraga County, in Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Baraga County lies within the Upper Peninsula — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Baraga County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Baraga County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Baraga County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Baraga County — the short answer
Baraga County, Michigan: USDA zone 4b, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 575K acres.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 575K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Baraga County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Baraga County's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Baraga County
Across a year, Baraga County accumulates about 1,446 growing degree days above 50°F, about 654 fewer than the middle Michigan county — ahead of 3 of Michigan’s 83 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Baraga County
Across Baraga County, the ground is predominantly Spodosols, where Champion, Munising, and Michigamme are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally moderately well drained with a cobbly silt loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.3–4.8, very strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group C soils.
Soil order
Spodosols
Drainage
Moderately well drained
Prime farmland
2%
Hydric soils
22%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Baraga County
The USDA soil survey maps 36% of Baraga County as moderately well drained — but another 61% drains differently: 26% well drained, 13% very poorly drained.
Champion is the most extensive named soil at 17% of mapped acres, then Munising (10%) and Michigamme (7%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Baraga County
Each reading below is measured for Baraga County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Baraga County are moderately well drained, in hydrologic group C — roughly the middle of the drainage range.
This is close to the middle most vegetables prefer: it holds enough water to carry a crop between rains without staying waterlogged. The catch is that a wet spring or a low corner can still tip it soggy.
Plant on the site as-is for most crops, but keep the lowest, slowest-draining beds for moisture-tolerant plantings.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Baraga County runs about pH 4.3–4.8, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 22% of Baraga County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredBaraga County runs about 151 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
The kind of country Baraga County is in
Baraga County sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Baraga County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Baraga County's own USDA zone 4b and its own 151-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile.
Is it too late to plant in Baraga County?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 9 — 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 gets applied to farmland in Baraga County
USGS estimates 1,131 lb of Glyphosate on Baraga County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Acetochlor (196 lb) and Atrazine (125 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Baraga County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Baraga County — 154 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed). Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Baraga County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Baraga County
Closest first, across Baraga County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Baraga County Road CommissionUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- MDOT BOVINE STORAGE AREASuperfund · 3.6 mi
- TOIVO-LAHTI HISTORIC DUMP SITESuperfund · 3.7 mi
- MI DEPT/CORRECTIONSBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- BERGERSON AUTOBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- COUNTY OF BARAGA ROAD COMMISSIONBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- KISSEL CHEVROLETBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- Baraga County Transit GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- Leo Erickson & Sons IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- Maki Oil L'anse OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- Kissel Chevrolet/olds IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- Paul Le ClaireUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Baraga County'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 Baraga County.
Total Sites
154
across Baraga County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Baraga County
Severity Distribution
across Baraga County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Baraga County, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 6 sites across Baraga County. 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.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Baraga County
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 Baraga County average
Your land is one point inside Baraga County
Everything above resolves to Baraga County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 575K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Baraga County Average
Baraga County Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Baraga County
- ●One soil character for all of Baraga County
- ●Frost dates read at Baraga County's scale: May 11 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Baraga County's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Baraga County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Baraga County, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Baraga County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Baraga County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Baraga County average
How we know this about Baraga County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Baraga County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Baraga County
When does frost risk typically end in Baraga County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Baraga County 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.
How long is the growing season in Baraga County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Baraga County sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 25, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Baraga County?
The federal record around Baraga County is a meaningful one — 154 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (67), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.5 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.
Everything above is measured at Baraga County's scale — its 4b band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Baraga County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Michigan's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Baraga County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Baraga County's own scale — its own ~151-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 154 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Baraga County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Baraga County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Baraga CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 154 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.5 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Baraga County's boundary and the 574,993 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Baraga County sitting wholly inside the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Baraga County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Michigan grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Michigan
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Baraga County — the ~151 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Baraga County's 574,993 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 154 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Baraga Countyread your own land →