Challenge-Brownsville, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — 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 Challenge-Brownsville, 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 Challenge-Brownsville 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 Challenge-Brownsville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Challenge-Brownsville — the short answer
Challenge-Brownsville, California: USDA zone 9a, about 331 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 15
- Yuba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 12
- Yuba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~331
- Yuba County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 6K 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 Yuba County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Challenge-Brownsville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Challenge-Brownsville's 331-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Challenge-Brownsville
Each reading below is measured for Challenge-Brownsville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsChallenge-Brownsville runs about 331 days between hard freezes (read from Yuba County, the closest normal to Challenge-Brownsville) — 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
MeasuredChallenge-Brownsville sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Challenge-Brownsville is in
Challenge-Brownsville sits in the Sierra Nevada — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northwestern Forested Mountains. That is read at Challenge-Brownsville's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Yuba County is mostly Central California Valley. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Challenge-Brownsville
Plants matched to Challenge-Brownsville's USDA zones 9a, 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 Challenge-Brownsville?
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 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 12 — 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 Challenge-Brownsville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Challenge-Brownsville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 019N006E26J001MNitrate · 0.8 mi
- SUTTER MEDICAL FOUNDATION DBA SUTTER NORTH MEDICAL FOUNDATIONBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- GOLD EAGLE MARKET #1Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- Gold Eagle Market #1Underground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- 018N006E01C001MNitrate · 1.2 mi
- ESCHEMAN CONSTRUCTIONBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- COUNTRY SMOG & REPAIRBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- NEW CINGULAR WIRELESS PCS LLCBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- USDA USFS R05 CHALLENGE WORK CENTERBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- USDA USFS R05 LA PORTE RANGER DISTRICTBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- HorseshoeMining · 3.2 mi
- Horse ShoeMining · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Challenge-Brownsville'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 Challenge-Brownsville.
Total Sites
85
within ~10 miles of Challenge-Brownsville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Challenge-Brownsville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Challenge-Brownsville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Challenge-Brownsville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Challenge-Brownsville — Mining (29 sites) and PFAS (4 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.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Challenge-Brownsville
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 Challenge-Brownsville average
Your land is one point inside Challenge-Brownsville
Everything above resolves to Challenge-Brownsville as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 6K acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Yuba 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 Challenge-Brownsville Average
Challenge-Brownsville Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Challenge-Brownsville
- ●One soil character for all of Challenge-Brownsville
- ●Frost dates read at Challenge-Brownsville's scale: Jan 15 to Dec 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Challenge-Brownsville's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Challenge-Brownsville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Challenge-Brownsville, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Challenge-Brownsville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Challenge-Brownsville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Challenge-Brownsville average
How we know this about Challenge-Brownsville
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 Yuba 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 Challenge-Brownsville
When does frost risk typically end in Challenge-Brownsville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Challenge-Brownsville typically lands around Jan 15, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Challenge-Brownsville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Challenge-Brownsville typically arrives around Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 28, so the watching starts about Nov 12 — about 331 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Challenge-Brownsville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Challenge-Brownsville sees about 331 frost-free days — roughly Jan 15 through Dec 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 5 to Nov 28, about 296 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Challenge-Brownsville?
The federal record around Challenge-Brownsville is a meaningful one — 85 documented sites, mostly Mining entries (29), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 Challenge-Brownsville?
From about Nov 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Challenge-Brownsville's scale — its 9a band and its 331-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Challenge-Brownsville'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 Challenge-Brownsville’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Challenge-Brownsville's own scale — the 6,211 acres it covers and 85 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Challenge-Brownsville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 85 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Challenge-Brownsville, the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Challenge-Brownsville's boundary and the 6,211 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Challenge-Brownsville sits in the Sierra Nevada — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Challenge-Brownsville has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Yuba County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Challenge-Brownsville's 6,211 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Yuba 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 Yuba 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 Yuba County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Challenge-Brownsville's 6,211 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Challenge-Brownsville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,211 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 Challenge-Brownsville-wide figureread your own land →
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