Gladwin, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Gladwin, 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 Gladwin 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 Gladwin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gladwin — the short answer
Gladwin, Michigan: USDA zone 5b, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 5b is Gladwin's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gladwin's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gladwin
Each reading below is measured for Gladwin itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGladwin runs about 170 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
Winter hardiness
MeasuredGladwin sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Gladwin is in
Gladwin sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Gladwin's own centroid rather than borrowed from Gladwin County.
What Grows in Gladwin
Every plant below cleared Gladwin's own zone 5b and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gladwin?
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 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — 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's on the federal record near Gladwin
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gladwin. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Sacred Heart ParishUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- DnrUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Gladwin Service CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- GLADWIN PRO FARMERS SUPPLY INCBrownfields · 650 ft
- CARQUEST AUTO OF GLADWIN INCBrownfields · 950 ft
- CRYSTAL FLASH LIMITED PARTNERSHIP OF MICHIGANBrownfields · 1000 ft
- Crystal Flash - GladwinUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Gladwin Bulk Oil #26005Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MI DEPT/NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Satnam PetroleumUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Proposed Rite-Aid DevelopmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Keml InvestmentsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gladwin'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 Gladwin.
Total Sites
122
within ~10 miles of Gladwin
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gladwin
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gladwin
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 Gladwin
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 Gladwin average
Your land is one point inside Gladwin
Everything above resolves to Gladwin as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Gladwin Average
Gladwin Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Gladwin
- ●One soil character for all of Gladwin
- ●Frost dates read at Gladwin's scale: May 1 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gladwin's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gladwin
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gladwin, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gladwin averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gladwin — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gladwin average
How we know this about Gladwin
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 Gladwin’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 Gladwin
When does frost risk typically end in Gladwin?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gladwin typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Gladwin?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gladwin typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gladwin?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gladwin sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Oct 4, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gladwin?
The federal record around Gladwin shows 122 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (67), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Gladwin?
From about Sep 18 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gladwin's scale — its 5b band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gladwin'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 Gladwin’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Gladwin's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,841 acres it covers and 122 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gladwin's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gladwin's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 18 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 122 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gladwin, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gladwin's boundary and the 1,841 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gladwin'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 Gladwin's 1,841 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gladwin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gladwin 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 Gladwin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gladwin's 1,841 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gladwin you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,841 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Gladwin-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganGladwin sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.