Gardner, MA 01005 Frost Dates
Gardner, MA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/12, roughly 257 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 141 days after the last spring frost.
Gardner sits in USDA Zone 6a (-10 to -5°F average annual minimum). The dates above are NOAA's 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting station, a 30-year average, not a forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
With roughly 5 weeks until Gardner's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 05/12 isn't a guarantee
05/12 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/27 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/28 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Gardner against the rest of the dataset
About 141 days separate Gardner's last and first frost, putting it 36,868 of 40,283 ZIP codes nationally. Within MA, it ranks 701 of 712.
Learn more
Before leaning on 01005's figures: the frost range explains how to read the range around Gardner's dates instead of trusting one, while local microclimates explains what one yard in Gardner can differ from the 01005 normal.