Manistee Lake, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Manistee Lake, 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 Manistee Lake 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 Manistee Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Manistee Lake — the short answer
Manistee Lake, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 153 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~153
- 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 Manistee Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Manistee Lake's 153-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Manistee Lake
Each reading below is measured for Manistee Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredManistee Lake runs about 153 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
MeasuredManistee Lake 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 Manistee Lake is in
Manistee Lake sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Manistee Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kalkaska County.
What Grows in Manistee Lake
Every plant below cleared Manistee Lake's own zone 5a and its 153-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Manistee Lake?
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 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Manistee Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Manistee Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AUTER ENTERPRISESBrownfields · 1300 ft
- Carefree Cove IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Carefree Cove ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Fords GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Excelsior 9 Central Prod. FaciliUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Camp TapicoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- ANR STORAGE COBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- R.l. Morris & Sons Constr. CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- Mckenzie CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- Kalkaska Fishing Rental Tools InUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- L.d. Hotshot Services, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- Northwood TransportUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Manistee Lake'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 Manistee Lake.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Manistee Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Manistee Lake
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 Manistee Lake
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 Manistee Lake average
Your land is one point inside Manistee Lake
Everything above resolves to Manistee Lake 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 Manistee Lake Average
Manistee Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Manistee Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Manistee Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Manistee Lake's scale: May 11 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Manistee Lake's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Manistee Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Manistee Lake, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Manistee Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Manistee Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Manistee Lake average
How we know this about Manistee Lake
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 Manistee Lake’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 Manistee Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Manistee Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Manistee Lake typically lands around May 11, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Manistee Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Manistee Lake typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 153 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Manistee Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Manistee Lake sees about 153 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 27, about 118 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Manistee Lake?
The federal record around Manistee Lake is a meaningful one — 167 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (102), 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 I protect my plants from frost in Manistee Lake?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Manistee Lake's scale — its 5a band and its 153-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Manistee Lake'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 Manistee Lake’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Manistee Lake's own scale — its own ~153-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,287 acres it covers and 167 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Manistee Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Manistee Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Oct 11 and the ~153-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 167 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Manistee Lake, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Manistee Lake's boundary and the 2,287 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~153-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Manistee Lake'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 Manistee Lake's 2,287 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kalkaska County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kalkaska 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 Kalkaska County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Manistee Lake's 2,287 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Manistee Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,287 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 Manistee Lake-wide figureread your own land →