Ossineke, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Ossineke, 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 Ossineke 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 Ossineke — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ossineke — the short answer
Ossineke, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 193 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~193
- 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 6a is Ossineke's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ossineke's 193-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ossineke
Each reading below is measured for Ossineke itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOssineke runs about 193 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
MeasuredOssineke 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 Ossineke is in
Ossineke sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Ossineke's own centroid rather than borrowed from Alpena County.
What Grows in Ossineke
Every plant below cleared Ossineke's own zone 6a and its 193-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ossineke?
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 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Ossineke
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ossineke. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALPENA TOWNSHIPPFAS · 0 ft
- Ossineke EZ MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- OSSINEKE GROUND WATER CONTAMINATIONSuperfund · 0.6 mi
- ALPENA COUNTY ROAD COMMISSIONBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORESBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Ossineke Sport & Party IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- The BarnUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- UNI-CRAFT CORPBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- 29N 08E 12DBCC01 ALPENA CO OSSINEKE FOREST CMPGRDNitrate · 1.3 mi
- OSSINEKE INDUSTRIES INCBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- ABEND BROS COLLISIONBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- L & K SunocoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ossineke'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 Ossineke.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ossineke
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ossineke
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ossineke, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Ossineke. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Ossineke
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 Ossineke average
Your land is one point inside Ossineke
Everything above resolves to Ossineke 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 Ossineke Average
Ossineke Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Ossineke
- ●One soil character for all of Ossineke
- ●Frost dates read at Ossineke's scale: Apr 22 to Nov 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ossineke's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ossineke
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ossineke, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ossineke averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ossineke — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ossineke average
How we know this about Ossineke
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 Ossineke’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 Ossineke
When does frost risk typically end in Ossineke?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ossineke typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Ossineke?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ossineke typically arrives around Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 18, so the watching starts about Oct 2 — about 193 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ossineke?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ossineke sees about 193 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 18, about 158 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ossineke?
The federal record around Ossineke is a meaningful one — 61 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (33), the nearest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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 Ossineke?
From about Oct 2 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 1 (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 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ossineke's scale — its 6a band and its 193-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ossineke'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 Ossineke’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ossineke's own scale — its own ~193-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,340 acres it covers and 61 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ossineke's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ossineke's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Nov 1 and the ~193-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 61 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ossineke, the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ossineke's boundary and the 2,340 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~193-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ossineke'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 Ossineke's 2,340 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Alpena County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Alpena 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 Alpena County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ossineke's 2,340 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ossineke you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,340 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest PFAS record under a tenth of a mile 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 Ossineke-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganOssineke sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides