Is there a website where I can find info on average first frost dates for my area? I only started recording the local (as in my garden) info last year, so I don't have an average date yet.

According to the Natural Gardening Co. the Frost free dates for Detroit are April 21st- Oct 20th.I realize that you are farther west. Fort Wayne In. and considerably south and there dates are 4/24 and 10/20. Usually the best source for this info is the local county extensio office of your state university.I tried MSU but not being familiar with the site I didn't take much time trying to find the info.

http://boldweb.com/gw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7&Itemid=1

I wondered the same thing a few days ago and called my local extension service. They knew immediately that our average first frost date is Sept 21. It seems to me like the locally observed info would be more reliable than a general zone chart, though the Sept 21 date does fall within the range indicated on Pea's link.

Read OG's article? http://www.organicgardening.com/feature/0,7518,s1-26-27-1586,00.html

I just cheched out "peapicker's" web site and they sure do protect themselves in their reccomendations. We are in zone 5, their dates are Mar 30-Apr 30. Our actual date for spring is usually around Apr 15th.

Here, they are April 20 for hard frosts, May 20 for any frost..

The local extension would be more accurate because there are differences within the time zone also. I am zone 5 also.

Is there any reason why he cannot have a choice?

Of course not. The more options / info the better! Besides, Bill asked for a website and that's exactly what you found.

There are a number of web sites that provide that information but your best source is the local office of the MSU USDA Cooperative Extension Service. A couple of web sites list the average first date of frost at the South Haven Experimental Station to be 10/2, which could be a good start, but around here (a 1/4 mile wide strip that runs from the northeast to the southwest) I get frosts around 9/15, sometimes earlier.

I like this website. It gives dates in terms of probabilities since no one really knows what the weather will do and when records will be broke.

Thanks for the help, all. I forgot all about the NCDC site. I used it a while back for some other info. I will try to contact the local extension office as well. I just never seem to get the chance when they are open (I type here while waiting for webpages to load , for my business, over a dog-slow dialup system).

I don't even want to think about frost yet!! Criminy sakes, summer just got here!!

quote:

Originally posted by Mumsey:
I don't even want to think about frost yet!! Criminy sakes, summer just got here!!

Sorry Mumsey, I was only asking for purposes of planning succession planting.

Ya got a point there. I just plant mid to late August and hope for the best. Frost here can be anywhere from end of Sept. to end of Oct. Never the same every year!