Martinez Lake, Arizona, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit palo verde, citrus, jalapeno, and date palm — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Martinez Lake, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Martinez Lake lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Martinez Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Martinez Lake — the short answer
Martinez Lake, Arizona: USDA zone 10a, about 316 days between hard freezes, across 976 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 29
- Yuma County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- Yuma County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~316
- Yuma County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 976 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Yuma County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 10a is Martinez Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Martinez Lake's 316-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Martinez Lake
Each reading below is measured for Martinez Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsMartinez Lake runs about 316 days between hard freezes (read from Yuma County, the closest normal to Martinez Lake) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMartinez Lake sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Martinez Lake is in
Martinez Lake sits in the Sonoran Basin and Range — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Martinez Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Yuma County.
What Grows in Martinez Lake
Plants matched to Martinez Lake's USDA zones 10a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has here — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this town's band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Is it too late to plant in Martinez Lake?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 29 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. And with a calendar this mild, the honest answer is that planting barely stops — winter opens seasons colder regions never see.
Documented around Martinez Lake
Survey cells within 31 miles of Martinez Lake checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 157 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Martinez Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Martinez Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MARTINEZ LAKE RESORT - BOAT SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- FISHERS LANDING RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- USDOI FW - IMPERIAL NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Copper Glance ProspectMining · 4.6 mi
- Copper King ProspectMining · 4.7 mi
- C-06-21 10ACB3 UNSURVNitrate · 5.2 mi
- HIDDEN SHORES RV VILLAGE - GAS STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.2 mi
- AnnieMining · 6.2 mi
- C-06-21 23BAC2Nitrate · 7.0 mi
- River View ClaimsMining · 7.1 mi
- Riverview MineMining · 7.1 mi
- 015S024E17L001SNitrate · 7.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Martinez Lake's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Martinez Lake.
Total Sites
42
within ~10 miles of Martinez Lake
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Martinez Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Martinez Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Martinez Lake, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Martinez Lake — Mining (19 sites) and Nitrate (12 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Martinez Lake
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Martinez Lake average
Your land is one point inside Martinez Lake
Everything above resolves to Martinez Lake as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 976 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Yuma County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at town scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Martinez Lake Average
Martinez Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Martinez Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Martinez Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Martinez Lake's scale: Jan 29 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Martinez Lake's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Martinez Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Martinez Lake, Arizona — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Martinez Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Martinez Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Martinez Lake average
How we know this about Martinez Lake
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Yuma County’s record, because none resolves here; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Martinez Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Martinez Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Martinez Lake typically lands around Jan 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about Feb 19.
When is the first frost in Martinez Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Martinez Lake typically arrives around Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 27, so the watching starts about Nov 11 — about 316 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Martinez Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Martinez Lake sees about 316 frost-free days — roughly Jan 29 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 19 to Nov 27, about 281 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Martinez Lake?
The federal record around Martinez Lake is a meaningful one — 42 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (19), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Martinez Lake?
From about Nov 11 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Dec 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Dec 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Martinez Lake's scale — its 10a band and its 316-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Martinez Lake's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Martinez Lake’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Martinez Lake's own scale — the 976 acres it covers and 42 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Martinez Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 42 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Martinez Lake, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Martinez Lake's boundary and the 976 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Martinez Lake's own centroid, the Sonoran Basin and RangeUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Martinez Lake checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Martinez Lake has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Yuma County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Martinez Lake's 976 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Yuma County
- The candidate plant list — Arizona's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom Arizona
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Yuma County
- The growing challenges every Arizona grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Arizona
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Yuma County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Martinez Lake's 976 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Martinez Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 976 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Martinez Lake-wide figureread your own land →