Menominee County, in Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Menominee 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
Menominee County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Menominee 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 Menominee County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Menominee County — the short answer
Menominee County, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 668K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 668K 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 5a is Menominee County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Menominee County's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Menominee County
Across a year, Menominee County accumulates about 1,777 growing degree days above 50°F, about 323 fewer than the middle Michigan county — ahead of 21 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 Menominee County
Across Menominee County, the ground is predominantly Alfisols, where Onaway, Lupton, and Cathro are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a fine sandy loam surface. Topsoil pH runs about 6.2–6.5, slightly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A/D soils.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
6%
Hydric soils
45%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Menominee County
The USDA soil survey maps 42% of Menominee County as well drained — but another 57% drains differently: 37% very poorly drained, 13% poorly drained.
Onaway is the most extensive named soil at 20% of mapped acres, then Lupton (13%) and Cathro (10%).
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 Menominee County
Each reading below is measured for Menominee 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 Menominee County are well drained, in hydrologic group A/D — 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 Menominee County runs about pH 6.2–6.5, 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 45% of Menominee 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
MeasuredMenominee County runs about 149 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
The kind of country Menominee County is in
Menominee 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 Menominee County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Menominee County's own USDA zone 5a and its own 149-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 Menominee 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 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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.
Documented around Menominee County
- monarch butterfly11 documented records
Sighting records, so they follow observers as much as insects.
What gets applied to farmland in Menominee County
USGS estimates 12,328 lb of Glyphosate on Menominee County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of Metolachlor & Metolachlor-s (2,189 lb) and Acetochlor (1,837 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 Menominee County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Menominee County — 242 documented sites across 7 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 Menominee 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 Menominee County
Closest first, across Menominee County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Carney-nadeau Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Frigo Cheese CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- MINERALS PROCESSING CORPORATIONBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- 37N 26W 19DADA01 MENOMINEE CO (CARNEY)Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- Carney Quik MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- Spehar Standard ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- 37N 26W 17CDCD01 MENOMINEE CO (CARNEY VILLAGE)Nitrate · 4.6 mi
- 37N 26W 17 CDC 01Nitrate · 4.7 mi
- GREAT LAKES WOOD PRESERVERSBrownfields · 5.4 mi
- LINDER IMPLEMENT CO INCBrownfields · 5.6 mi
- Stephenson Marketing Coop, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.7 mi
- HARRIS ELECTRONIC WASTESuperfund · 6.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Menominee 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 Menominee County.
Total Sites
242
across Menominee County
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
across Menominee County
Severity Distribution
across Menominee County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Menominee County, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 6 sites across Menominee County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Menominee 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 Menominee County average
Your land is one point inside Menominee County
Everything above resolves to Menominee County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 668K 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 Menominee County Average
Menominee County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Menominee County
- ●One soil character for all of Menominee County
- ●Frost dates read at Menominee County's scale: May 12 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Menominee County's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Menominee County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Menominee County, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Menominee County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Menominee County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Menominee County average
How we know this about Menominee 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 Menominee County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Menominee County
When does frost risk typically end in Menominee County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Menominee County typically lands around May 12, 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 2.
How long is the growing season in Menominee County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Menominee County sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 24, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Menominee County?
The federal record around Menominee County is a meaningful one — 242 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (131), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.1 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 gardeners stretch the season in Menominee County?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Menominee County 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 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 12 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Menominee County's scale — its 5a band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Menominee 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 Menominee County’s own scale
9 of the readings below were taken at Menominee County's own scale — its own ~149-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 242 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Menominee County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Menominee County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Menominee CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 242 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 4.1 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Menominee County's boundary and the 668,186 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Menominee County sitting wholly inside the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Open occurrence records documented in Menominee County for a tracked speciesGBIF derived datasets (CC0 / CC BY 4.0)
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Menominee 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 Menominee County — the ~149 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 Menominee County's 668,186 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 242 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 Menominee Countyread your own land →