Presque Isle Harbor, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Presque Isle Harbor, 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 Presque Isle Harbor 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 Presque Isle Harbor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Presque Isle Harbor — the short answer
Presque Isle Harbor, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- 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
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Presque Isle Harbor's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Presque Isle Harbor's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Presque Isle Harbor
Each reading below is measured for Presque Isle Harbor itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPresque Isle Harbor 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
MeasuredPresque Isle Harbor 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 Presque Isle Harbor is in
Presque Isle Harbor sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Presque Isle Harbor's own centroid rather than borrowed from Presque Isle County.
What Grows in Presque Isle Harbor
Every plant below cleared Presque Isle Harbor's own zone 6a and its 195-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Presque Isle Harbor?
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 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (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. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Presque Isle Harbor
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Presque Isle Harbor. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DNR/PRESQUE ISLE STATE HARBORBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- Presque Isle State DockUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- Birch Hill GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- TOWNSHIP OF PRESQUE ISLEBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- Grand Lake MarinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Zubals Party StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- LaBell Grocery LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- 34N 07E 27DA 01 PRSQ I GRAND LAKE REST AREANitrate · 3.7 mi
- LAFARGE PRESQUE ISLE QUARRYBrownfields · 3.9 mi
- Presque Isle CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.2 mi
- Dodge Marine & StorageUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.4 mi
- WOLVERINE POWER COOPERATIVEBrownfields · 9.3 mi
2 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Presque Isle Harbor'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 Presque Isle Harbor.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Presque Isle Harbor
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Presque Isle Harbor
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.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Presque Isle Harbor
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 Presque Isle Harbor average
Your land is one point inside Presque Isle Harbor
Everything above resolves to Presque Isle Harbor as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Presque Isle Harbor Average
Presque Isle Harbor Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Presque Isle Harbor
- ●One soil character for all of Presque Isle Harbor
- ●Frost dates read at Presque Isle Harbor's scale: Apr 20 to Nov 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Presque Isle Harbor's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Presque Isle Harbor
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Presque Isle Harbor, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Presque Isle Harbor averages can't show:
We read public map data around Presque Isle Harbor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Presque Isle Harbor average
How we know this about Presque Isle Harbor
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 Presque Isle Harbor’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 Presque Isle Harbor
When does frost risk typically end in Presque Isle Harbor?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Presque Isle Harbor typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Presque Isle Harbor?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Presque Isle Harbor 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 195 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Presque Isle Harbor?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Presque Isle Harbor sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 18, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Presque Isle Harbor?
The federal record around Presque Isle Harbor is light — 16 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (8), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.3 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Presque Isle Harbor?
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 Presque Isle Harbor's scale — its 6a band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Presque Isle Harbor'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 Presque Isle Harbor’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Presque Isle Harbor's own scale — its own ~195-day season between 28°F freezes, the 4,079 acres it covers and 16 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Presque Isle Harbor's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Presque Isle Harbor's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Nov 1 and the ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 16 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Presque Isle Harbor, the closest Brownfields record about 1.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Presque Isle Harbor's boundary and the 4,079 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Presque Isle Harbor'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 Presque Isle Harbor's 4,079 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Presque Isle County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Presque Isle 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 Presque Isle County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Presque Isle Harbor's 4,079 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Presque Isle Harbor you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 4,079 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.3 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 Presque Isle Harbor-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganPresque Isle Harbor sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides