Barry County, in Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Barry County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Barry 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 Barry County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Barry County — the short answer
Barry County, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 354K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 354K 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 6a is Barry County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Barry County's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Barry County
Across a year, Barry County accumulates about 2,472 growing degree days above 50°F, about 372 more than the middle Michigan county — ahead of 70 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 Barry County
Across Barry County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Oshtemo, Marlette, and Coloma are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.0–6.4, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
24%
Hydric soils
17%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Barry County
The USDA soil survey maps 51% of Barry County as well drained — but another 45% drains differently: 12% very poorly drained, 12% moderately well drained.
Oshtemo is the most extensive named soil at 16% of mapped acres, then Marlette (14%) and Coloma (13%).
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 Barry County
Each reading below is measured for Barry 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 Barry County are well drained, in hydrologic group A — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Barry County runs about pH 6.0–6.4, close to neutral.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 17% of Barry 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
MeasuredBarry County runs about 195 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 Barry County is in
Barry County sits in the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Barry County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Barry County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 195-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 Barry County?
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 Mar 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — 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 Barry County
Survey cells within 31 miles of Barry County checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 45 miles off. What to watch for.
- Japanese beetle10 documented records
- monarch butterfly29 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Barry County
USGS estimates 79,645 lb of Glyphosate on Barry County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Atrazine (23,802 lb) and Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (15,789 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 Barry County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Barry County — 303 documented sites across 6 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 2 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 Barry 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 Barry County
Closest first, across Barry County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Todds GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- HASTINGS FIBERGLASS PRODUCTS INCToxics Release Inventory · 2.3 mi
- Camp MichawanaUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Goldsworthy's Marathon #2Underground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- MDOT - Hastings Maintenance GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- MI DEPT/TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- Ryder Truck Rental IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Thornapple Lake Trading PostUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Tick TockUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- M.E.S. PetroleumUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- DR STACEY GARRISON DDSBrownfields · 3.6 mi
- CITGO PETROLEUMBrownfields · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Barry 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 Barry County.
Total Sites
303
across Barry County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Barry County
Severity Distribution
across Barry County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Barry County, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 4 sites across Barry County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Barry 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 Barry County average
Your land is one point inside Barry County
Everything above resolves to Barry County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 354K 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 Barry County Average
Barry County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Barry County
- ●One soil character for all of Barry County
- ●Frost dates read at Barry County's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Barry County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Barry County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Barry County, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Barry County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Barry County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Barry County average
How we know this about Barry 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 Barry County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Barry County
When does frost risk typically end in Barry County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Barry County typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
How long is the growing season in Barry County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Barry County sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 16, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Barry County?
The federal record around Barry County is a meaningful one — 303 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (180), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.2 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.
Everything above is measured at Barry County's scale — its 6a band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Barry 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 Barry County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Barry County's own scale — its own ~195-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 303 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Barry County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Barry County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Barry CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 303 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.2 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Barry County's boundary and the 353,986 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Barry County sitting wholly inside the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Barry County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Barry 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 Barry County — the ~195 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 Barry County's 353,986 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 303 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 Barry Countyread your own land →