Carmel Valley Village, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: okra, meyer lemon, california poppy, and artichoke. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Carmel Valley Village, 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 Carmel Valley Village 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 Carmel Valley Village — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Carmel Valley Village — the short answer
Carmel Valley Village, California: USDA zone 9b, about 317 days between hard freezes, across 12K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 27
- Monterey County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 10
- Monterey County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~317
- Monterey County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 12K 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 Monterey County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9b is Carmel Valley Village's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Carmel Valley Village's 317-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Carmel Valley Village
Each reading below is measured for Carmel Valley Village itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsCarmel Valley Village runs about 317 days between hard freezes (read from Monterey County, the closest normal to Carmel Valley Village) — 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
MeasuredCarmel Valley Village 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 Carmel Valley Village is in
Carmel Valley Village sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Carmel Valley Village's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monterey County.
What Grows in Carmel Valley Village
Every plant below cleared Carmel Valley Village's own zone 9b and its 317-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Carmel Valley Village?
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 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 10 — 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 Carmel Valley Village
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Carmel Valley Village. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CARMEL VALLEY LODGEBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- USA WASTE OF CALIFORNIA INC DBA CARMEL MARINA CORPBrownfields · 1.3 mi
- NO PROBLEM AUTO BODYBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- PENINSULA SEPTIC TANK SERVICEBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- KASEYSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- CARMEL VALLEY CHEVRONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- CARMEL VALLEY GARAGEBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- AT&T California - NE023Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- KIM CARMEL VALLEY CLEANERSBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- GRANITE CONSTRUCTION COMPANYBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- AMBER KREBBERSBrownfields · 3.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Carmel Valley Village'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 Carmel Valley Village.
Total Sites
270
within ~10 miles of Carmel Valley Village
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Carmel Valley Village
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Carmel Valley Village
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Carmel Valley Village, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Carmel Valley Village — Brownfields (218 sites) and PFAS (3 sites). 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.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Carmel Valley Village
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 Carmel Valley Village average
Your land is one point inside Carmel Valley Village
Everything above resolves to Carmel Valley Village as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 12K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Monterey 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 Carmel Valley Village Average
Carmel Valley Village Average
- ●USDA Zones 9b, averaged across Carmel Valley Village
- ●One soil character for all of Carmel Valley Village
- ●Frost dates read at Carmel Valley Village's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Carmel Valley Village's 9b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Carmel Valley Village
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Carmel Valley Village, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Carmel Valley Village averages can't show:
We read public map data around Carmel Valley Village — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Carmel Valley Village average
How we know this about Carmel Valley Village
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 Monterey 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 Carmel Valley Village
When does frost risk typically end in Carmel Valley Village?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Carmel Valley Village typically lands around Jan 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Carmel Valley Village?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Carmel Valley Village typically arrives around Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 26, so the watching starts about Nov 10 — about 317 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Carmel Valley Village?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Carmel Valley Village sees about 317 frost-free days — roughly Jan 27 through Dec 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 17 to Nov 26, about 282 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Carmel Valley Village?
The federal record around Carmel Valley Village is a meaningful one — 270 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (218), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.2 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 Carmel Valley Village?
From about Nov 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Carmel Valley Village's scale — its 9b band and its 317-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Carmel Valley Village'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 Carmel Valley Village’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Carmel Valley Village's own scale — the 12,149 acres it covers and 270 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Carmel Valley Village's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9bUSDA PHZM 2023
- 270 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Carmel Valley Village, the closest Brownfields record about 1.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Carmel Valley Village's boundary and the 12,149 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9b and a ~317-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Carmel Valley Village'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 — Carmel Valley Village has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Monterey County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Carmel Valley Village's 12,149 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monterey County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Monterey 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 Monterey County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Carmel Valley Village's 12,149 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Carmel Valley Village you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 12,149 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.2 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 Carmel Valley Village-wide figureread your own land →