Plan the garden around cold risk, not one magic frost date
Garden timing has two separate questions: when freezing weather usually eases, and when a specific crop should actually be started, transplanted or direct-sown.
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Use these two tools together
Frost Dates & Freeze Risk
See NOAA spring and fall freeze climatology, current NWS cold risk, hard-freeze context and station-distance confidence.
Planting Calendar
Translate the freeze anchor into sourced start, transplant and direct-sow windows for 20 common garden crops.
Why “last frost date” is not a deadline
Freeze climatology describes historical risk, not a guarantee that cold weather is finished. The frost tool keeps historical probabilities separate from the current NWS forecast so a warm spring or late cold snap does not disappear inside an average.
Why hardiness zone is a different question
USDA Plant Hardiness Zone is about perennial winter survival. It is useful context, but it is not a local last-frost date and should not be used by itself to schedule tomatoes, beans or lettuce.
Crop biology changes the answer
Cool-season crops can often tolerate conditions that would damage warm-season crops. The planting tool applies crop-specific rules to the local freeze anchor instead of giving every vegetable the same date.
Michigan gardeners get the deeper local tools
For Michigan-specific planting and freeze information, use the established Michigan & Great Lakes tools. This national hub stays broad rather than cloning those pages.