Montague, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Montague, 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 Montague 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 Montague — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Montague — the short answer
Montague, Michigan: USDA zone 6b, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City 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 6b is Montague's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Montague's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Montague
Each reading below is measured for Montague itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMontague runs about 195 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
MeasuredMontague sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Montague is in
Montague sits in the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Montague's own centroid rather than borrowed from Muskegon County.
What Grows in Montague
Every plant below cleared Montague's own zone 6b and its 195-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Montague?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 26; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 23 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Montague
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Montague. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Henry Kessler & SonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- E.i. Dupont De Nemowrs & Co, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Dave WollerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Harold R. KassnerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Montague Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- City Of MontagueUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Montague Pump StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Northern White Lake Area Fire CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- T-c CarUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Rented-white Lake Chiro/comm EdUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Montague FoodsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Moxie MarineUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Montague'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 Montague.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Montague
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Montague
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Montague, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Montague — Superfund (6 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (14 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Montague
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 Montague average
Your land is one point inside Montague
Everything above resolves to Montague 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 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 Montague Average
Montague Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Montague
- ●One soil character for all of Montague
- ●Frost dates read at Montague's scale: Apr 23 to Nov 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Montague's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Montague
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Montague, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Montague averages can't show:
We read public map data around Montague — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Montague average
How we know this about Montague
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 Montague’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 Montague
When does frost risk typically end in Montague?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Montague typically lands around Apr 23, 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 14.
When is the first frost in Montague?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Montague typically arrives around Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 21, so the watching starts about Oct 5 — about 195 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Montague?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Montague sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 23 through Nov 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 14 to Oct 21, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Montague?
The federal record around Montague runs heavier than most — 163 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (78), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Montague?
From about Oct 5 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 Nov 4 (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 Nov 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Montague's scale — its 6b band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Montague'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 Montague’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Montague's own scale — its own ~195-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,681 acres it covers and 163 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Montague's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Montague's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 23 and Nov 4 and the ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 163 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Montague, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Montague's boundary and the 1,681 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Montague's own centroid, the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Montague's 1,681 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Muskegon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Muskegon 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 Muskegon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Montague's 1,681 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Montague you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,681 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Montague-wide figureread your own land →
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