Manton, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Manton, 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 Manton 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 Manton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Manton — the short answer
Manton, Michigan: USDA zone 5b, about 155 days between hard freezes, across 999 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~155
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 999 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 Manton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Manton's 155-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Manton
Each reading below is measured for Manton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredManton runs about 155 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
MeasuredManton 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 Manton is in
Manton sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Manton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wexford County.
What Grows in Manton
Every plant below cleared Manton's own zone 5b and its 155-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Manton?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — 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 Manton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Manton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Former Quick-sav Foods IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- City Of MantonUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Manton Shell Mini-MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- N Mich Conf Free Methodist ChurcUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- McDaniel Auto & SportUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- School Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Manton Field StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- MANTON CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLBrownfields · 2100 ft
- Harts Recreational SalesUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Manton MobilUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Manton Med. CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORESBrownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Manton'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 Manton.
Total Sites
115
within ~10 miles of Manton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Manton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Manton
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 Manton
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 Manton average
Your land is one point inside Manton
Everything above resolves to Manton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 999 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 Manton Average
Manton Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Manton
- ●One soil character for all of Manton
- ●Frost dates read at Manton's scale: May 8 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Manton's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Manton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Manton, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Manton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Manton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Manton average
How we know this about Manton
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 Manton’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 Manton
When does frost risk typically end in Manton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Manton typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Manton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Manton typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 155 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Manton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Manton sees about 155 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 26, about 120 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Manton?
The federal record around Manton shows 115 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (58), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 Manton?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Manton's scale — its 5b band and its 155-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Manton'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 Manton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Manton's own scale — its own ~155-day season between 28°F freezes, the 999 acres it covers and 115 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Manton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Manton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 10 and the ~155-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 115 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Manton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Manton's boundary and the 999 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~155-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Manton'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 Manton's 999 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wexford County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wexford 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 Wexford County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Manton's 999 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Manton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 999 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Manton-wide figureread your own land →
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