Gardner, MA 01430 Frost Dates
Gardner, MA: when does the frost end?
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/05, roughly 250 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/07, roughly 152 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 6 weeks until Gardner's first fall frost, a row cover or cold frame is what stretches the last few weeks of harvest here.
Why 05/05 isn't a guarantee
05/05 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/25 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/19 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Gardner against the rest of the dataset
At roughly 152 frost-free days, Gardner places 34,698 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MA, it ranks 650 of 712.
Learn more
Before leaning on 01430'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 01430 normal.