Elk Creek, California, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Elk Creek, 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 Elk Creek 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 Elk Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Elk Creek — the short answer
Elk Creek, California: USDA zone 9a, about 309 days between hard freezes, across 944 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Jan 30
- Glenn County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Dec 5
- Glenn County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~309
- Glenn County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 944 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 Glenn County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Elk Creek's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elk Creek's 309-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Elk Creek
Each reading below is measured for Elk Creek itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsElk Creek runs about 309 days between hard freezes (read from Glenn County, the closest normal to Elk Creek) — 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
MeasuredElk Creek 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 Elk Creek is in
Elk Creek sits in the Central California Foothills and Coastal Mountains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Mediterranean California. That is read at Elk Creek's own centroid rather than borrowed from Glenn County.
What Grows in Elk Creek
Every plant below cleared Elk Creek's own zone 9a and its 309-day season. Each card opens that plant's California profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Elk Creek?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Jan 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Dec 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a climate this gentle, “too late” hardly applies — the question becomes which crops prefer the cooler months ahead.
What's on the federal record near Elk Creek
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Elk Creek. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Turner RanchMining · 900 ft
- PACIFIC BELLBrownfields · 2200 ft
- STONY CREEK JOINT UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICTBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- STONY GORGE HYDROELECTRIC FACILITYBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- UnknownMining · 3.4 mi
- Nye RanchMining · 4.6 mi
- BriscoMining · 6.8 mi
- HudibrasMining · 6.9 mi
- Luce ClaimMining · 7.1 mi
- Luce ClaimsMining · 7.1 mi
- KnightMining · 7.4 mi
- Copper BluffMining · 7.7 mi
5 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Elk Creek'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 Elk Creek.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Elk Creek
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Mine waste leaches heavy metals. Test for lead, arsenic and cadmium before growing food here.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Elk Creek
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 Elk Creek average
Your land is one point inside Elk Creek
Everything above resolves to Elk Creek as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 944 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Glenn 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 Elk Creek Average
Elk Creek Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Elk Creek
- ●One soil character for all of Elk Creek
- ●Frost dates read at Elk Creek's scale: Jan 30 to Dec 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elk Creek's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Elk Creek
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elk Creek, California — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elk Creek averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elk Creek — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elk Creek average
How we know this about Elk Creek
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 Glenn 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 Elk Creek
When does frost risk typically end in Elk Creek?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elk Creek typically lands around Jan 30, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Elk Creek?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Elk Creek typically arrives around Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 21, so the watching starts about Nov 5 — about 309 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Elk Creek?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elk Creek sees about 309 frost-free days — roughly Jan 30 through Dec 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Feb 20 to Nov 21, about 274 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elk Creek?
The federal record around Elk Creek is light — 20 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Mining entries (16), the nearest Mining record about 0.2 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Elk Creek?
From about Nov 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Elk Creek's scale — its 9a band and its 309-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elk Creek'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 Elk Creek’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Elk Creek's own scale — the 944 acres it covers and 20 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elk Creek's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 20 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Elk Creek, the closest Mining record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Elk Creek's boundary and the 944 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~309-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Elk Creek'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 — Elk Creek has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Glenn County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Elk Creek's 944 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Glenn County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Glenn 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 Glenn County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Elk Creek's 944 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Elk Creek you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 944 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Mining 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 Elk Creek-wide figureread your own land →
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