Gardner, MA 01436 Frost Dates
01436, near Gardner, MA: the frost window
Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/06, roughly 251 days out. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/01, roughly 148 days after the last spring frost.
Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum) comes from the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map; the frost dates above are the 1991-2020 normal at the nearest reporting NOAA station for Gardner, not a forecast for this year.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Gardner's growing season runs out in roughly 5 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
How much risk comes with planting early here
05/06 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
Gardner's growing season runs about 148 days, ranking 35,665 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within MA, it ranks 653 of 712.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 01436: the frost range, on how to read the range around Gardner's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Gardner can differ from the 01436 normal.