California Polytechnic State University, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with tomato, artichoke, fig, and california poppy — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in California Polytechnic State University, 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 California Polytechnic State University 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 California Polytechnic State University — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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California Polytechnic State University — the short answer
California Polytechnic State University, California: USDA zone 9b, about 228 days between hard freezes, across 984 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 1
- San Luis Obispo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 15
- San Luis Obispo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~228
- San Luis Obispo County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 984 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 Luis Obispo County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is California Polytechnic State University's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against California Polytechnic State University's 228-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in California Polytechnic State University
Each reading below is measured for California Polytechnic State University itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCalifornia Polytechnic State University runs about 228 days between hard freezes (read from San Luis Obispo County, the closest normal to California Polytechnic State University) — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredCalifornia Polytechnic State University 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 California Polytechnic State University is in
California Polytechnic State University sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at California Polytechnic State University's own centroid rather than borrowed from San Luis Obispo County.
What Grows in California Polytechnic State University
Plants matched to California Polytechnic State University's USDA zones 9b, 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 California Polytechnic State University?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 15 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. A long window like this one runs successions deep into fall — and even its last weeks take quick greens and garlic.
What's on the federal record near California Polytechnic State University
Closest first, within ~10 miles of California Polytechnic State University. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MOBIL OIL CORP SAN ANTONIO STABrownfields · 0.6 mi
- CAL FIRE SAN LUIS UNITBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- SLOMAC ET ALBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- CENTRAL COAST ORAL & MAXILLOFACIAL SURGERYBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- CHEVRON # 91717Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- Chevron Station # 91717Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- TESORO (Speedway XP) #68614Underground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- CENTRAL COAST FAMILY HEALTH - SLOBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- FCPP SPECIALTY CARE SLOBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- EXXONMOBIL OIL CORP 11516Brownfields · 0.9 mi
- SAN LUIS DERMOTOLOGY & LASER CLINIC INCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- CHC PHARMACY SLOBrownfields · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from California Polytechnic State University'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 California Polytechnic State University.
Total Sites
712
within ~10 miles of California Polytechnic State University
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
8 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of California Polytechnic State University
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of California Polytechnic State University
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around California Polytechnic State University, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of California Polytechnic State University — Mining (126 sites) and Brownfields (534 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in California Polytechnic State University
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 California Polytechnic State University average
Your land is one point inside California Polytechnic State University
Everything above resolves to California Polytechnic State University as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 984 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from San Luis Obispo 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 California Polytechnic State University Average
California Polytechnic State University Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across California Polytechnic State University
- ●One soil character for all of California Polytechnic State University
- ●Frost dates read at California Polytechnic State University's scale: Apr 1 to Nov 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not California Polytechnic State University's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in California Polytechnic State University
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in California Polytechnic State University, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that California Polytechnic State University averages can't show:
We read public map data around California Polytechnic State University — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the California Polytechnic State University average
How we know this about California Polytechnic State University
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 Luis Obispo 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 California Polytechnic State University
When does frost risk typically end in California Polytechnic State University?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in California Polytechnic State University typically lands around Apr 1, 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 Apr 22.
When is the first frost in California Polytechnic State University?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in California Polytechnic State University typically arrives around Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 1, so the watching starts about Oct 16 — about 228 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in California Polytechnic State University?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, California Polytechnic State University sees about 228 frost-free days — roughly Apr 1 through Nov 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 22 to Nov 1, about 193 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in California Polytechnic State University?
The federal record around California Polytechnic State University is a meaningful one — 712 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (534), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 California Polytechnic State University?
From about Oct 16 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 Nov 15 (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 Nov 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at California Polytechnic State University's scale — its 9b band and its 228-day season. Your yard writes its own version of California Polytechnic State University'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 California Polytechnic State University’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at California Polytechnic State University's own scale — the 984 acres it covers and 712 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- California Polytechnic State University's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 712 documented contamination sites on the federal record near California Polytechnic State University, the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- California Polytechnic State University's boundary and the 984 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at California Polytechnic State University's own centroid, the Central California Foothills and Coastal MountainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — California Polytechnic State University has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom San Luis Obispo County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so California Polytechnic State University's 984 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom San Luis Obispo County
- The candidate plant list — California's curated set, filtered to this zone band and re-ordered by how much margin each has herefrom California
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom San Luis Obispo 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 Luis Obispo County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among California Polytechnic State University's 984 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of California Polytechnic State University you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 984 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.6 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 California Polytechnic State University-wide figureread your own land →