Michigamme, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with okra, cranberry, cilantro, and zucchini — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Michigamme, 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 Michigamme 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 Michigamme — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Michigamme — the short answer
Michigamme, Michigan: USDA zone 4a, about 118 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~118
- 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 4a is Michigamme's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Michigamme's 118-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Michigamme
Each reading below is measured for Michigamme itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMichigamme runs about 118 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMichigamme sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Michigamme is in
Michigamme sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Michigamme's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marquette County.
What Grows in Michigamme
Every plant below cleared Michigamme's own zone 4a and its 118-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Michigamme?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 23 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Michigamme
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Michigamme. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Unnamed Copper ProspectMining · 1.0 mi
- 48N 29W 31 CB 01 MARQUETTE CO (CHAMPION HOME)Nitrate · 2.3 mi
- Unnamed Mineral ProspectMining · 2.6 mi
- Former-schwankes StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- MICHIGAMEE MARKET AND MOBILBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- POLAR LOGGING INC FUEL OIL SPILL SITEBrownfields · 2.9 mi
- 48N 29W 31DADA01 MARQTE CHAMPIONNitrate · 2.9 mi
- Unnamed Copper&Molybdenum ProspectMining · 3.1 mi
- BEST BUY LLCBrownfields · 3.2 mi
- Former Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- Chuck Vis Cozy InnUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- Michigamme MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Michigamme'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 Michigamme.
Total Sites
43
within ~10 miles of Michigamme
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Michigamme
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Michigamme
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Michigamme, Mining runs higher than the national average — 6 sites within ~10 miles of Michigamme. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Michigamme
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 Michigamme average
Your land is one point inside Michigamme
Everything above resolves to Michigamme 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 Michigamme Average
Michigamme Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Michigamme
- ●One soil character for all of Michigamme
- ●Frost dates read at Michigamme's scale: May 28 to Sep 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Michigamme's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Michigamme
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Michigamme, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Michigamme averages can't show:
We read public map data around Michigamme — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Michigamme average
How we know this about Michigamme
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 Michigamme’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 Michigamme
When does frost risk typically end in Michigamme?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Michigamme typically lands around May 28, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Michigamme?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Michigamme typically arrives around Sep 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 9, so the watching starts about Aug 24 — about 118 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Michigamme?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Michigamme sees about 118 frost-free days — roughly May 28 through Sep 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 18 to Sep 9, about 83 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Michigamme?
The federal record around Michigamme is a meaningful one — 43 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (18), the nearest Mining record about 1.0 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 gardeners stretch the season in Michigamme?
With about 118 frost-free days between hard freezes, Michigamme rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 146 to 174 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 28 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Michigamme's scale — its 4a band and its 118-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Michigamme'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 Michigamme’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Michigamme's own scale — its own ~118-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,523 acres it covers and 43 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Michigamme's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Michigamme's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 28 and Sep 23 and the ~118-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 43 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Michigamme, the closest Mining record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Michigamme's boundary and the 1,523 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~118-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Michigamme'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 Michigamme's 1,523 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marquette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marquette 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 Marquette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Michigamme's 1,523 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Michigamme you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,523 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining record about 1.0 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 Michigamme-wide figureread your own land →
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