Kingsley, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Kingsley, 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 Kingsley 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 Kingsley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Kingsley — the short answer
Kingsley, Michigan: USDA zone 5b, about 166 days between hard freezes, across 850 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~166
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 850 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 Kingsley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Kingsley's 166-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Kingsley
Each reading below is measured for Kingsley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredKingsley runs about 166 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
MeasuredKingsley 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 Kingsley is in
Kingsley sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Kingsley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Grand Traverse County.
What Grows in Kingsley
Every plant below cleared Kingsley's own zone 5b and its 166-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Kingsley?
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 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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 Kingsley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Kingsley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Northland Food CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- NORTHLAND CONVENIENCE STOREBrownfields · 1800 ft
- J P MORGAN CHASE BANKBrownfields · 2200 ft
- Thompson of KingsleyUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Robert HoeflinUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- H & M GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Hoeflin ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 251009Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- 251003Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 26N 10W 33CCAA 01 GRAND TRAVERSE CO (B12)Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- GRAND TRAVERSE CO ROAD COMM KINGSLEYBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- Kingsley GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Kingsley'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 Kingsley.
Total Sites
355
within ~10 miles of Kingsley
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Kingsley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Kingsley
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Kingsley, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 192 sites within ~10 miles of Kingsley. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Kingsley
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 Kingsley average
Your land is one point inside Kingsley
Everything above resolves to Kingsley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 850 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 Kingsley Average
Kingsley Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Kingsley
- ●One soil character for all of Kingsley
- ●Frost dates read at Kingsley's scale: May 6 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Kingsley's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Kingsley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Kingsley, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Kingsley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Kingsley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Kingsley average
How we know this about Kingsley
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 Kingsley’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 Kingsley
When does frost risk typically end in Kingsley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Kingsley typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Kingsley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Kingsley typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 166 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Kingsley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Kingsley sees about 166 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Oct 5, about 131 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Kingsley?
The federal record around Kingsley is a meaningful one — 355 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (192), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 I protect my plants from frost in Kingsley?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Kingsley's scale — its 5b band and its 166-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Kingsley'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 Kingsley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Kingsley's own scale — its own ~166-day season between 28°F freezes, the 850 acres it covers and 355 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Kingsley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Kingsley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 19 and the ~166-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 355 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Kingsley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Kingsley's boundary and the 850 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~166-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Kingsley'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 Kingsley's 850 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Grand Traverse County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Grand Traverse 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 Grand Traverse County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Kingsley's 850 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Kingsley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 850 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Kingsley-wide figureread your own land →