FrostDateCheck

Garden City, MI 48135 Frost Dates

When can you plant in Garden City, MI?

Zone 6b

Typically, the last spring freeze lands around 05/01, roughly 246 days out. The first fall frost typically arrives around 10/15, about 166 frost-free days later.

Garden City sits in USDA Zone 6b (-5 to 0°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.

What to do before the first frost

About 7 weeks of growing season left in Garden City before the first fall frost — a cold frame or row cover can stretch harvest weeks past that date.

Why 05/01 isn't a guarantee

05/01 is the middle of 30 years of NOAA records, not a promise. Plant by 04/17 and you're betting against frost in roughly 9 years out of 10. 05/18 is the safer bet, historically only a 1-in-10 chance of frost that late.

How Garden City compares

At roughly 166 frost-free days, Garden City places 30,297 of 40,283 ZIP codes in this dataset. Within MI, it ranks 389 of 1,153.

Learn more

local microclimates covers what one yard in Garden City can differ from the 48135 normal. zone vs. frost date covers why Zone 6b and Garden City's frost date answer different questions.