Gardiner, ME 04553 Frost Dates
04553, near Gardiner, ME: the frost window
The last spring frost here typically falls around 04/27, about 242 days from today. Fall's first freeze usually shows up around 10/18, roughly 172 days after the last spring frost.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map puts Gardiner in Zone 5b (-15 to -10°F average annual minimum); frost dates are NOAA's 1991-2020 station normal, not this year's forecast.
Stretching the season past the first frost
Gardiner's growing season runs out in roughly 7 weeks — a cold frame or greenhouse kit is the usual way to keep cool-weather crops going past the first frost.
Why 04/27 isn't a guarantee
04/27 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Getting tender plants in by 04/16 carries real risk, frost has hit that late in about 9 of 10 years here. Wait until 05/10 and only about 1 year in 10 sees frost after that.
Gardiner against the rest of the dataset
Gardiner's growing season runs about 172 days, ranking 28,265 of 40,283 US ZIP codes measured here, longest to shortest. Within ME, it ranks 108 of 456.
Learn more
Two guides worth reading on 04553: the frost range, on how to read the range around Gardiner's dates instead of trusting one, and local microclimates, on what one yard in Gardiner can differ from the 04553 normal.