Onekama, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Expect cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Onekama, 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 Onekama 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 Onekama — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Onekama — the short answer
Onekama, Michigan: USDA zone 6b, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 376 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 376 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 Onekama's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Onekama's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Onekama
Each reading below is measured for Onekama itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOnekama runs about 183 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
MeasuredOnekama 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 Onekama is in
Onekama sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Onekama's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Manistee County is mostly Northern Lakes and Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Onekama
Every plant below cleared Onekama's own zone 6b and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Onekama?
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 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 30 — 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 Onekama
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Onekama. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Church Of The BrethrenUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Onekama Consolidated SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- ONEKAMA SCHOOLSBrownfields · 950 ft
- Spirit of OnekemaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Petes Repair ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Brown 7 Central Production FacilUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Portage Lake MarinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Onekama Marine IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Town Hall EZ MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Onekama EZ-MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Onekama Bulk PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Rollin Well DrillingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Onekama'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 Onekama.
Total Sites
157
within ~10 miles of Onekama
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Onekama
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Onekama
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Onekama, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 108 sites within ~10 miles of Onekama. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Onekama
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 Onekama average
Your land is one point inside Onekama
Everything above resolves to Onekama as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 376 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 Onekama Average
Onekama Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Onekama
- ●One soil character for all of Onekama
- ●Frost dates read at Onekama's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Onekama's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Onekama
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Onekama, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Onekama averages can't show:
We read public map data around Onekama — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Onekama average
How we know this about Onekama
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 Onekama’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 Onekama
When does frost risk typically end in Onekama?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Onekama typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Onekama?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Onekama typically arrives around Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 16, so the watching starts about Sep 30 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Onekama?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Onekama sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Oct 16, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Onekama?
The federal record around Onekama is a meaningful one — 157 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (108), 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 Onekama?
From about Sep 30 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 30 (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 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Onekama's scale — its 6b band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Onekama'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 Onekama’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Onekama's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 376 acres it covers and 157 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Onekama's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Onekama's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 30 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 157 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Onekama, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Onekama's boundary and the 376 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Onekama sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Onekama's 376 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Manistee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Manistee 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 Manistee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Onekama's 376 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Onekama you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 376 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 Onekama-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganOnekama sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.