Charlevoix County, in Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Charlevoix County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Charlevoix County — the short answer
Charlevoix County, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 266K acres.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 266K 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 Charlevoix County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Charlevoix County's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Charlevoix County
Across a year, Charlevoix County accumulates about 1,764 growing degree days above 50°F, about 336 fewer than the middle Michigan county — ahead of 17 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 Charlevoix County
Across Charlevoix County, the ground is predominantly Spodosols, where Emmet, Kalkaska, and Rubicon are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a loamy sand surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.1–6.5, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Spodosols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
7%
Hydric soils
20%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Charlevoix County
The USDA soil survey maps 52% of Charlevoix County as well drained — but another 39% drains differently: 12% very poorly drained, 10% somewhat excessively drained.
Emmet is the most extensive named soil at 19% of mapped acres, then Kalkaska (11%) and Rubicon (5%).
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 Charlevoix County
Each reading below is measured for Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix County runs about pH 6.1–6.5, 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 20% of Charlevoix 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
MeasuredCharlevoix County runs about 189 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 Charlevoix County is in
Charlevoix County spans 2 EPA Level III ecoregions — North Central Hardwood Forests (61%) and Northern Lakes and Forests (39%). Which one your land falls in changes what grows wild there and how the ground behaves, and a county-wide answer cannot tell you which.
What Grows in Charlevoix County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Charlevoix County's own USDA zone 6a and its own 189-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 Charlevoix County?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around Charlevoix County
- Japanese beetle5 documented records
- monarch butterfly39 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Charlevoix County
USGS estimates 2,086 lb of Glyphosate on Charlevoix County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (650 lb) and Metolachlor-s (431 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 Charlevoix County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Charlevoix County — 229 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 4 Superfund sites. 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 Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix County
Closest first, across Charlevoix County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- USCG BEAVER ISLAND HIGH LEVEL SITESuperfund · 3.3 mi
- Beaver Island Biological StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITYBrownfields · 5.0 mi
- Beaver Island AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- Island AirwaysUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- Martin Gas & Oil LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.2 mi
- PEAINE TOWNSHIPBrownfields · 7.6 mi
- The StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.6 mi
- BEAVER ISLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOLBrownfields · 8.8 mi
- Donkey Town RoadUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.9 mi
- Mcdonoughs MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.2 mi
- Beaver Island Marina IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix County.
Sources Checked
across Charlevoix County
Severity Distribution
across Charlevoix County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Charlevoix County, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 4 sites across Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix County average
Your land is one point inside Charlevoix County
Everything above resolves to Charlevoix County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 266K 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 Charlevoix County Average
Charlevoix County Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Charlevoix County
- ●One soil character for all of Charlevoix County
- ●Frost dates read at Charlevoix County's scale: Apr 30 to Nov 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Charlevoix County's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Charlevoix County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Charlevoix County, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Charlevoix County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Charlevoix County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Charlevoix County average
How we know this about Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Charlevoix County
When does frost risk typically end in Charlevoix County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Charlevoix County typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
How long is the growing season in Charlevoix County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Charlevoix County sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Oct 22, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Charlevoix County?
The federal record around Charlevoix County is a meaningful one — 229 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (139), the nearest Superfund record about 3.3 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 Charlevoix County's scale — its 6a band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Charlevoix County's own scale — its own ~189-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 229 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Charlevoix County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Charlevoix County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Charlevoix CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 229 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Superfund record about 3.3 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Charlevoix County's boundary and the 266,451 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The 2 ecoregions Charlevoix County spans, North Central Hardwood Forests the largestUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Charlevoix County for 2 tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix County — the ~189 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 Charlevoix County's 266,451 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 229 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 Charlevoix Countyread your own land →