Lewiston, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lewiston, 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 Lewiston 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 Lewiston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lewiston — the short answer
Lewiston, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 159 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- 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 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~159
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 5a is Lewiston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lewiston's 159-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lewiston
Each reading below is measured for Lewiston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLewiston runs about 159 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
MeasuredLewiston sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Lewiston is in
Lewiston sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Lewiston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montmorency County.
What Grows in Lewiston
Every plant below cleared Lewiston's own zone 5a and its 159-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lewiston?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Lewiston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lewiston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Williams AutoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Johannesburg-lewiston SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Nihranz ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Sunrise Convenience Store #15Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- KLEIN'S COLLISIONBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Sunrise Store #06Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- NORTHWEST HARDWOODS INCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- Montmorency County Rd CommissionUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Rpi, Inc (lewiston Div)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- DELTA-VEYOR CORPBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- North Shore ConstructionUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- H.B. CARBIDE CO.Brownfields · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lewiston'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 Lewiston.
Total Sites
50
within ~10 miles of Lewiston
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lewiston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lewiston
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 Lewiston
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 Lewiston average
Your land is one point inside Lewiston
Everything above resolves to Lewiston 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 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 Lewiston Average
Lewiston Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Lewiston
- ●One soil character for all of Lewiston
- ●Frost dates read at Lewiston's scale: May 9 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lewiston's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lewiston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lewiston, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lewiston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lewiston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lewiston average
How we know this about Lewiston
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 Lewiston’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 Lewiston
When does frost risk typically end in Lewiston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lewiston 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 Lewiston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lewiston typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 159 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lewiston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lewiston sees about 159 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Oct 1, about 124 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lewiston?
The federal record around Lewiston is a meaningful one — 50 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (29), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Lewiston?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lewiston's scale — its 5a band and its 159-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lewiston'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 Lewiston’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lewiston's own scale — its own ~159-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,814 acres it covers and 50 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lewiston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lewiston's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 15 and the ~159-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 50 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lewiston, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lewiston's boundary and the 1,814 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~159-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lewiston'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 Lewiston's 1,814 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Montmorency County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Montmorency 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 Montmorency County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lewiston's 1,814 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lewiston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,814 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Lewiston-wide figureread your own land →