growing season

Period of the year, also called frost-free season, during which growing conditions for native vegetation and cultivated crops are the most favourable. It usually becomes shorter as distance from the equator increases. In equatorial and tropical regions the growing season ordinarily lasts all year; at higher latitudes (e.g., the tundra), it may last as little as two months or less. It also varies according to elevation above sea level: higher elevations tend to have shorter growing seasons.

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