Mio, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Mio, 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 Mio 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 Mio — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mio — the short answer
Mio, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 153 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- 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
- ~153
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 5K 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 Mio's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mio's 153-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mio
Each reading below is measured for Mio itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMio 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
MeasuredMio 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 Mio is in
Mio sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Mio's own centroid rather than borrowed from Oscoda County.
What Grows in Mio
Every plant below cleared Mio'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 Mio?
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 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (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 Mio
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mio. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Mio Ausable Schools Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORESBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- USDA USFS R09 MIO MIBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- AMERICAN COLLISION AND GLASS SHOPBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- Mio Ranger DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- UNITED STATES FOREST SERVICEBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- Blairs ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- MI DEPT/NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- DnrUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Mio Self ServeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Mdot Maintenance GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- MI DEPT/TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mio'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 Mio.
Total Sites
68
within ~10 miles of Mio
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mio
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mio
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mio, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Mio. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Mio
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 Mio average
Your land is one point inside Mio
Everything above resolves to Mio as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Mio Average
Mio Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Mio
- ●One soil character for all of Mio
- ●Frost dates read at Mio's scale: May 10 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mio's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mio
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mio, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mio averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mio — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mio average
How we know this about Mio
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 Mio’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 Mio
When does frost risk typically end in Mio?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mio typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Mio?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mio 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 153 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mio?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mio sees about 153 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 26, about 118 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mio?
The federal record around Mio is a meaningful one — 68 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (39), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Mio?
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 Mio's scale — its 5a band and its 153-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mio'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 Mio’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mio's own scale — its own ~153-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,355 acres it covers and 68 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mio's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mio's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 10 and the ~153-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 68 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mio, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mio's boundary and the 5,355 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 Mio'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 Mio's 5,355 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Oscoda County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Oscoda 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 Oscoda County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mio's 5,355 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mio you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,355 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Mio-wide figureread your own land →
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