August, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in August, 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 August 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 August — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
August — the short answer
August, California: USDA zone 9b, about 321 days between hard freezes, across 804 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 24
- San Joaquin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 11
- San Joaquin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~321
- San Joaquin County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 804 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 San Joaquin County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is August's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against August's 321-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in August
Each reading below is measured for August itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsAugust runs about 321 days between hard freezes (read from San Joaquin County, the closest normal to August) — 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
MeasuredAugust sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b.
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 August is in
August sits in the Central California Valley — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at August's own centroid rather than borrowed from San Joaquin County.
What Grows in August
Every plant below cleared August's own zone 9b and its 321-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in August?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 24 (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.
What's on the federal record near August
Closest first, within ~10 miles of August. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WATERLOO LIQUORSBrownfields · 850 ft
- DELTA PEST CONTROL INCBrownfields · 900 ft
- MID STATE STEELBrownfields · 1000 ft
- WATERLOO LIQUORUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- PEIRANOS AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE INCBrownfields · 1100 ft
- AZTECA AUTO BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1200 ft
- STOCKTON TRANSMISSIONBrownfields · 1300 ft
- SEACA PACKAGINGBrownfields · 1300 ft
- HOME SUPPLY TOOL RENTALBrownfields · 1400 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL #13632Brownfields · 1500 ft
- SAN JOAQUIN STEEL CO., INC.Brownfields · 1500 ft
- PAZ AUTO & TRUCK REPAIRBrownfields · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from August'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 August.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of August
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of August
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around August, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 2,123 sites within ~10 miles of August. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in August
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 August average
Your land is one point inside August
Everything above resolves to August as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 804 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from San Joaquin 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 August Average
August Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across August
- ●One soil character for all of August
- ●Frost dates read at August's scale: Jan 24 to Dec 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not August's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in August
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in August, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that August averages can't show:
We read public map data around August — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the August average
How we know this about August
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 San Joaquin 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 August
When does frost risk typically end in August?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in August typically lands around Jan 24, 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 14.
When is the first frost in August?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in August 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 321 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in August?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, August sees about 321 frost-free days — roughly Jan 24 through Dec 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 14 to Nov 27, about 286 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in August?
The federal record around August is a meaningful one — 2,731 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (2,123), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles 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 August?
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 August's scale — its 9b band and its 321-day season. Your yard writes its own version of August'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 August’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at August's own scale — the 804 acres it covers and 2,731 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- August's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 2,731 documented contamination sites on the federal record near August, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- August's boundary and the 804 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~321-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at August's own centroid, the Central California ValleyUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — August has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom San Joaquin County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so August's 804 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom San Joaquin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom San Joaquin County
- The growing challenges every California grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom California
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom San Joaquin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among August's 804 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of August you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 804 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles 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 August-wide figureread your own land →