Wakefield, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wakefield, 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 Wakefield 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 Wakefield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wakefield — the short answer
Wakefield, Michigan: USDA zone 4a, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 5K 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 4a is Wakefield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wakefield's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wakefield
Each reading below is measured for Wakefield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWakefield runs about 148 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWakefield sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Wakefield is in
Wakefield sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Wakefield's own centroid rather than borrowed from Gogebic County.
What Grows in Wakefield
Every plant below cleared Wakefield's own zone 4a and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wakefield?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Wakefield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wakefield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Peoples GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- G. CaleyUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Cormiers ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Dans Auto ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- DnrUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Wakefield Twp School DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Hi Way 2 Serv.Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Holiday Stationstore #185Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Wakefield State Police PostUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- LEVIJOKI AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 1900 ft
- Inkalas Auto SalesUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- CITY OF WAKEFIELDBrownfields · 2000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wakefield'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 Wakefield.
Total Sites
112
within ~10 miles of Wakefield
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wakefield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wakefield
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 Wakefield
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 Wakefield average
Your land is one point inside Wakefield
Everything above resolves to Wakefield as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Wakefield Average
Wakefield Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Wakefield
- ●One soil character for all of Wakefield
- ●Frost dates read at Wakefield's scale: May 9 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wakefield's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wakefield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wakefield, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wakefield averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wakefield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wakefield average
How we know this about Wakefield
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 Wakefield’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 Wakefield
When does frost risk typically end in Wakefield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wakefield typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Wakefield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wakefield typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wakefield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wakefield sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 20, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wakefield?
The federal record around Wakefield shows 112 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (49), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Wakefield?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Wakefield rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 9 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Wakefield's scale — its 4a band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wakefield'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 Wakefield’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wakefield's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,038 acres it covers and 112 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wakefield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wakefield's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 4 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 112 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wakefield, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wakefield's boundary and the 5,038 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wakefield'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 Wakefield's 5,038 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Gogebic County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Gogebic 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 Gogebic County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wakefield's 5,038 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wakefield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,038 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Wakefield-wide figureread your own land →
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