Del Monte Forest, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 10a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with avocado, meyer lemon, tomato, and artichoke — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Del Monte Forest, 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 Del Monte Forest 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 Del Monte Forest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Del Monte Forest — the short answer
Del Monte Forest, California: USDA zone 10a, about 317 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 10a
- 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
- 5K 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 10a is Del Monte Forest's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Del Monte Forest's 317-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Del Monte Forest
Each reading below is measured for Del Monte Forest itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsDel Monte Forest runs about 317 days between hard freezes (read from Monterey County, the closest normal to Del Monte Forest) — 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
MeasuredDel Monte Forest 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 Del Monte Forest is in
Del Monte Forest sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Del Monte Forest's own centroid rather than borrowed from Monterey County.
What Grows in Del Monte Forest
Plants matched to Del Monte Forest'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 Del Monte Forest?
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 Del Monte Forest
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Del Monte Forest. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- POPPY HILLS GOLF COURSE DBA POPPY HOLDING INCBrownfields · 650 ft
- PBCSD_VISCAINO_PUMP STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON SCHOOLBrownfields · 1000 ft
- PEBBLE BEACH COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICTBrownfields · 2100 ft
- ALEX PAINBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- CHRISTOPHER W. GOULDBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- California American Water Pebble Beach Pumping Plant #6AUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- TRAMONTO, LLCBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- MONTEREY PENINSULA ENGINEERING INC.Brownfields · 0.8 mi
- PEBBLE BEACH CO CORP YARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- FOREST LAKE TANK-CAWBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- PBCSD_P-7_Pump StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Del Monte Forest'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 Del Monte Forest.
Total Sites
675
within ~10 miles of Del Monte Forest
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Del Monte Forest
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Del Monte Forest
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Del Monte Forest, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 590 sites within ~10 miles of Del Monte Forest. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Del Monte Forest
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 Del Monte Forest average
Your land is one point inside Del Monte Forest
Everything above resolves to Del Monte Forest as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 5K 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 Del Monte Forest Average
Del Monte Forest Average
- ●USDA Zones 10a, averaged across Del Monte Forest
- ●One soil character for all of Del Monte Forest
- ●Frost dates read at Del Monte Forest's scale: Jan 27 to Dec 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Del Monte Forest's 10a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Del Monte Forest
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Del Monte Forest, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Del Monte Forest averages can't show:
We read public map data around Del Monte Forest — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Del Monte Forest average
How we know this about Del Monte Forest
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 Del Monte Forest
When does frost risk typically end in Del Monte Forest?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Del Monte Forest 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 Del Monte Forest?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Del Monte Forest 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 Del Monte Forest?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Del Monte Forest 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 Del Monte Forest?
The federal record around Del Monte Forest is a meaningful one — 675 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (590), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Del Monte Forest?
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 Del Monte Forest's scale — its 10a band and its 317-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Del Monte Forest'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 Del Monte Forest’s own scale
4 of the readings below were taken at Del Monte Forest's own scale — the 5,137 acres it covers and 675 documented sites around it; 6 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Del Monte Forest's own USDA hardiness band, zones 10aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 675 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Del Monte Forest, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Del Monte Forest's boundary and the 5,137 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- The ecoregion at Del Monte Forest'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 — Del Monte Forest 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 Del Monte Forest's 5,137 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Monterey 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 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 Del Monte Forest's 5,137 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Del Monte Forest you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,137 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Del Monte Forest-wide figureread your own land →