Greenland, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Greenland, 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 Greenland 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 Greenland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Greenland — the short answer
Greenland, Michigan: USDA zone 4b, about 156 days between hard freezes, across 264 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~156
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 264 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 4b is Greenland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Greenland's 156-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Greenland
Each reading below is measured for Greenland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGreenland runs about 156 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
MeasuredGreenland sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Greenland is in
Greenland sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Greenland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ontonagon County.
What Grows in Greenland
Every plant below cleared Greenland's own zone 4b and its 156-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Greenland?
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 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Greenland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Greenland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Johnson GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Service Station #3 - GreenlandUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- John Flink LoggingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Pat's Motor Sports CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- PATS AUTO SALESBrownfields · 1300 ft
- Greenland SubwayUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Ridge Cu MineMining · 0.8 mi
- Mass Cu MineMining · 1.1 mi
- Mass Consolidated MineMining · 1.1 mi
- MassMining · 1.2 mi
- Adventure Consolidated MineMining · 1.2 mi
- MASS CITY HG SPILLSuperfund · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Greenland'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 Greenland.
Total Sites
70
within ~10 miles of Greenland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Greenland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Greenland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Greenland, Mining runs higher than the national average — 45 sites within ~10 miles of Greenland. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Greenland
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 Greenland average
Your land is one point inside Greenland
Everything above resolves to Greenland as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 264 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 town 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 Greenland Average
Greenland Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Greenland
- ●One soil character for all of Greenland
- ●Frost dates read at Greenland's scale: May 9 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Greenland's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Greenland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Greenland, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Greenland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Greenland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Greenland average
How we know this about Greenland
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Greenland’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Greenland
When does frost risk typically end in Greenland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Greenland typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Greenland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Greenland typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 156 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Greenland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Greenland sees about 156 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 28, about 121 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Greenland?
The federal record around Greenland is a meaningful one — 70 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (45), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 I protect my plants from frost in Greenland?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Greenland's scale — its 4b band and its 156-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Greenland'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 Greenland’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Greenland's own scale — its own ~156-day season between 28°F freezes, the 264 acres it covers and 70 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Greenland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Greenland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 12 and the ~156-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 70 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Greenland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Greenland's boundary and the 264 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~156-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Greenland'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 Greenland's 264 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ontonagon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ontonagon 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 Ontonagon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Greenland's 264 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Greenland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 264 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 Greenland-wide figureread your own land →
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