Newaygo, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Newaygo, 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 Newaygo 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 Newaygo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Newaygo — the short answer
Newaygo, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 167 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~167
- 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 6a is Newaygo's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Newaygo's 167-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Newaygo
Each reading below is measured for Newaygo itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNewaygo runs about 167 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
MeasuredNewaygo sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Newaygo is in
Newaygo sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Newaygo's own centroid rather than borrowed from Newaygo County.
What Grows in Newaygo
Every plant below cleared Newaygo's own zone 6a and its 167-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Newaygo?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — 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.
Documented around Newaygo
Survey cells within 31 miles of Newaygo checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 99 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Newaygo
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Newaygo. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Newaygo EZ MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Newaygo Fire DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- United #6310Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- SPEEDWAY LLCBrownfields · 1100 ft
- City Of NewaygoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Michigan Agric Comodities IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Newaygo Public Schools Transportation FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- MICHIGAN BELL TELEPHONE COMPANYBrownfields · 2100 ft
- AT&T Michigan-Newaygo Garage & StoreroomUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- MI DEPT/TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 2400 ft
- R.m AviationUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Newaygo County AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Newaygo'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 Newaygo.
Total Sites
224
within ~10 miles of Newaygo
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Newaygo
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Newaygo
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.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Newaygo
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 Newaygo average
Your land is one point inside Newaygo
Everything above resolves to Newaygo 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 Newaygo Average
Newaygo Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Newaygo
- ●One soil character for all of Newaygo
- ●Frost dates read at Newaygo's scale: May 3 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Newaygo's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Newaygo
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Newaygo, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Newaygo averages can't show:
We read public map data around Newaygo — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Newaygo average
How we know this about Newaygo
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 Newaygo’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 Newaygo
When does frost risk typically end in Newaygo?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Newaygo typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Newaygo?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Newaygo typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 167 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Newaygo?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Newaygo sees about 167 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Oct 3, about 132 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Newaygo?
The federal record around Newaygo is a meaningful one — 224 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (134), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Newaygo?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Newaygo's scale — its 6a band and its 167-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Newaygo'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 Newaygo’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Newaygo's own scale — its own ~167-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,410 acres it covers and 224 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Newaygo's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Newaygo's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 17 and the ~167-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 224 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Newaygo, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Newaygo's boundary and the 2,410 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~167-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Newaygo's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Newaygo checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Newaygo's 2,410 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Newaygo County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Newaygo 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 Newaygo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Newaygo's 2,410 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Newaygo you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,410 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 Newaygo-wide figureread your own land →
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