Gaastra, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Gaastra, 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 Gaastra 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 Gaastra — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gaastra — the short answer
Gaastra, Michigan: USDA zone 4a, about 123 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~123
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 4a is Gaastra's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gaastra's 123-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gaastra
Each reading below is measured for Gaastra itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGaastra runs about 123 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
Winter hardiness
MeasuredGaastra sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Gaastra is in
Gaastra sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Gaastra's own centroid rather than borrowed from Iron County.
What Grows in Gaastra
Every plant below cleared Gaastra's own zone 4a and its 123-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gaastra?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 25 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Gaastra
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gaastra. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY OF GAASTRABrownfields · 1400 ft
- City Of CaspianUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- CITY OF CASPIANBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- RODGERS/NELSON INCBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- Northland Super Service IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- Krist Food Mart # 28Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- Carlsons ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Dober ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Stambaugh AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- Krist Oil Co Aircraft HangerUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- W Iron Co Pub Schools WarehouseUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- WE ENERGIESBrownfields · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gaastra'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 Gaastra.
Total Sites
76
within ~10 miles of Gaastra
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gaastra
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gaastra
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Gaastra
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 Gaastra average
Your land is one point inside Gaastra
Everything above resolves to Gaastra 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 city 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 Gaastra Average
Gaastra Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Gaastra
- ●One soil character for all of Gaastra
- ●Frost dates read at Gaastra's scale: May 25 to Sep 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gaastra's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gaastra
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gaastra, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gaastra averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gaastra — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gaastra average
How we know this about Gaastra
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Gaastra’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Gaastra
When does frost risk typically end in Gaastra?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gaastra typically lands around May 25, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Gaastra?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gaastra typically arrives around Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 11, so the watching starts about Aug 26 — about 123 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gaastra?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gaastra sees about 123 frost-free days — roughly May 25 through Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 15 to Sep 11, about 88 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gaastra?
The federal record around Gaastra is a meaningful one — 76 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (43), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 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.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Gaastra?
With about 123 frost-free days between hard freezes, Gaastra 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 151 to 179 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 25 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Gaastra's scale — its 4a band and its 123-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gaastra'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 Gaastra’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Gaastra's own scale — its own ~123-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,047 acres it covers and 76 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gaastra's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gaastra's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 25 and Sep 25 and the ~123-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 76 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gaastra, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gaastra's boundary and the 1,047 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~123-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gaastra's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Gaastra's 1,047 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Iron County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Iron 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 Iron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gaastra's 1,047 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gaastra 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 0.3 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 Gaastra-wide figureread your own land →
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